


Unwanted Bonds

by CelticKitsune



Series: Bonding universe [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Complete, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Male Slash, Multi, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 03:46:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 193,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/987285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticKitsune/pseuds/CelticKitsune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even at the age of fifteen, Harry Potter still has a problem with accidental magic, because of this he finds himself bonded to two Slytherins and his life seems to go from bad to worse. However this may just be a blessing in disguise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Okay! So chapter 1 of this story has in fact been gone through and fixed up, it has jumped nearly 3000 words!   
So a HUGE thanks to Bicky Monster for helping me re-work this chapter into something a bit more up to my current writing standards! I hope everyone enjoys the edits, and I shall be doing the same with the other chapters as well!

Unwanted bonds  
Chapter 1

It had to be a dream, or maybe a very bad joke, that was the only thing that Harry could think of as he continued staring at the Headmaster. He was waiting for someone to tell him that this was in fact a joke, then they could all have a good laugh at his expense for believing something so ridiculous. And things would go back to normal. But no one was laughing, and as he clenched his hands into fists, feeling the slight sting of his fingernails digging into the palm of his hands, he was also rule out that this was a dream. 

Turning his attention briefly away from Dumbledore, Harry looked over at the other two occupants of the room. Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. The two of them were just standing there, looking entirely too calm about the whole situation. Harry wanted to do something, yell at them, throw things, anything that would force them to have more of a reaction then their usual emotionless expressions. 

Taking a deep breath to calm himself as best he could, Harry turned so he was once again looking at Dumbledore. "Professor, I...I really don't understand..."

A sigh of frustration was heard from Draco, and Harry looked back at him again narrowing his eyes a the blond boy. "What’s not to understand?” Draco questioned. “Everything has been explained to you twice already,” Malfoy sneered. “Perhaps it would be easier for you to understand if we had a little picture book for you.” 

"Shut it, Malfoy," Harry snapped. 

“It’s not my fault that you’re impossibly slow and need things explained to you multiple times,” Draco said with a shrug, a small smirk forming. 

“Me wanting to get all the facts straight doesn’t make me slow,” Harry shot back, crossing his arms over his chest. “My reaction is perfectly normal, thank you very much. Yours however…” Harry paused, narrowing his eyes at the blond boy who had been his school rival since first year. “I’m beginning to think that this whole situation might have been your fault. You seem a little too smug for it to have been an accident,” Harry accused. 

Draco narrowed his eyes, taking half a step towards his long time school rival, however, Blaise reached out and grabbed Draco’s shoulder, stopping him from moving any further. Draco looked back at the tan boy, frowning when Blaise shook his head. Draco huffed and leaned back against Blaise, allowing the tan boy to wrap his arms around him. 

"Potter,” Blaise spoke then, once he had Draco securely in his arms. “None of us did this, in fact we aren’t entirely sure what ‘this’ even is, so I suggest you stop pointing fingers.” Blaise said narrowing his eyes slightly and watching as the small Gryffindor seemed to shrink back slightly in his chair. Blaise ignored Harry’s reaction and continued speaking. “Right now there isn't much that can be done about this situation, unless you can learn how to keep your own magic under control. And considering we are all standing here, I am wondering if that will ever be possible." Blaise Zabini explained.

"I can control my magic just fine!” Harry protested, earning skeptical looks from both Blaise and Draco. “When people don't piss me off," Harry added, glaring at the two Slytherins, making it quite clear that they were the one’s pissing him off at the moment. Though truthfully, the whole situation was really starting to anger Harry. 

He couldn't even remember exactly what had happened, when he tried all he got was flashes of Ron’s angry face and parts of a conversation that really shouldn’t have lead to Ron being so angry at him. Closing his eyes, Harry tried to focus on the memory, like he had been doing since he had woken up in the hospital wing. 

 

Everything had been normal; he had been eating dinner with Ron and Hermione and they had been making plans for the summer. All three of them were intending to go on a trip together. Harry had never traveled before and the idea of going on a vacation with his two best friends was exciting. He, of course, would have to spend a couple weeks at the Dursley’s, but then he would be able to meet up with Ron and Hermione.

Hermione had gone places with her parents before, and Harry knew for a fact that Ron had been to both Egypt and Romania. They had all agreed that they wanted to go somewhere where none of them had been before. Things had gone down hill from there, and Harry couldn’t remember much except the burning anger, and his magic feeling like a small fire had been lit just under his skin, being fueled by his anger as he and Ron fought. Harry could still hear the sound of Ron’s glass exploding, before his memory went completely blank and the next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital wing. 

“Harry?” Dumbledore’s voice broke into his thoughts and Harry shook his head before opening his eyes. 

“I’m sorry, sir,” Harry apologised. 

“It is quite alright, Harry.” Dumbledore smiled kindly at him. “As I was attempting to say before, I believe that the problem with your magic is not just caused by your anger,” Dumbledore said, getting Harry back on track with what the actual situation was, “your magic reacts whenever you have any bouts of strong emotion. In other words, you are still having episodes of accidental magic,” Dumbledore explained. 

Harry nodded his head in agreement, his accidental magic wasn’t something new to him. “What does that have to do with any of this though, sir?” Harry asked.

“You see, Harry, typically a wizard child will have accidental magic until they are eleven years old, at which time they are able to start their schooling, and start learning to control their magic. Of course, having to use their magic all year long depletes their magical core, so they get the summer off to rest and recharge themselves so to speak,” Dumbledore said and Harry nodded, indicating that he was following the Headmaster's explanation so far. 

“I think I’m understanding, but-”

“If you would stop interrupting, maybe you would get the explanation you’re looking for,” Draco cut Harry off. This earned him another glare from the smaller boy before Harry turned his attention back to Dumbledore, waiting for him to continue. 

Dumbledore waited a moment longer to see if the boys were finished for the moment before he resumed his explanation. “In rare cases when there is too much magic built up in a single person, their magic seeks out someone compatible with them - their soul-mate, I believe that this is what you, Mr. Malfoy, and Mr. Zabini have all experienced," Dumbledore said, looking from Harry to the two Slytherins. 

Harry had listened to Dumbledore explain this. It was the third time he had been told, and though the wording had been different each time, the message was the same, he was somehow bonded to both Blaise and Draco, because he wasn’t strong enough to control his own magic. 

"But it could have been anyone, why them?" Harry asked. 

"There is no proof of this, however, I believe your soul called out for them. How much do you remember of when it happened, my boy?" Dumbledore asked. 

Harry shrugged his shoulder. "I remember getting irritated at Ron, then his cup exploded, then… the rest is kind of fuzzy. I think… I remember someone talking to me..." Harry looked at Dumbledore to see if this was true or not. 

The Headmaster nodded in confirmation. "You created a shield around yourself, I think on some level you might have been aware that you did not want your magic to hurt Mr. Weasley. However, when there is that much of a magical outburst there are only two places for it to go; it can burst out and harm those who are close to you; or it can turn inwards, causing you great harm instead. Your shield was a powerful one, Harry, the only two who were allowed to pass through it were in fact Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini here, that is what makes me believe that some part of you called for them, and them alone. Whatever the reason, your magic accepted them and bonded them to you."

Draco watched as Harry sank further into his seat. He silently hoped that the Gryffindor wouldn’t make Dumbledore go through the explanation a fourth time, but looking at the expression on Harry’s face at the moment, Draco was sure that the smaller boy finally understood what was going on. Though he was reluctant to admit it, Draco could understand why Harry needed things explained to him more than once; the whole situation really was confusing. Even Draco had found it a little hard to believe at first, and while Harry had been having trouble with the idea of being bonded to someone, Draco was finding it hard to believe that the small Gryffindor had so little control over his own magic that it had forced a bond between them.

If Draco hadn’t been able to actually feel the connection between the two of them, he would have most likely been in the same position as Harry, denying that any of this was actually true. Even if he hadn’t been able to feel the bond, Draco would have known that something must have happened Halloween night.

Draco couldn’t really remember moving from where had been standing at the door to the Great Hall, but he knew he had been the first one to make it through Harry’s shield. Blaise hadn’t been far behind him either, the only thought on both of their minds had been that they needed to calm Harry down before he killed himself with his own magic. Blaise had wrapped his arms around Harry while Draco had spoken softly to the smaller boy. The surge of power that had burst out from Harry at that point was enough to make Draco dizzy.

"Okay, so they're bonded to me, WHY though?” Harry snapped, breaking Draco out of his own thoughts. “I know the how. You haven't told me why," Harry said in frustration. "I mean… you told me that my magic needs them, but WHY does it need them?" Harry looked at the Headmaster. 

Dumbledore stroked his beard for a moment before he smiled at Harry, his eyes twinkling. "Picture it this way, Harry, your magical core is like a cup that your magic is constantly flowing into. Most wizard's magic will stop flowing into that cup unless what is in the cup is used, then it will fill back up once they get some rest or don't over work themselves too much. However, there are some people whose magic never stops flowing, instead it starts spilling over the cup until it is too much for that person to handle. That is where a lot of accidental magic comes from, as a child they need some sort of outlet for their magic because they aren't using it every day."

"So, my cup is overflowing?" Harry asked, making sure he was understanding what Dumbledore was trying to tell him, even if it was still a little confusing. 

"Yes. Although accidental magic is uncommon once a person has started school, it is not unheard of. Usually what will happen is, as you train and use your magic, your magical core would expand to accommodate the excess magic. However, this obviously is not the case for you. Your magic realised the danger and called someone to you, to help control your magic, or in this case two someones,” Dumbledore said, indicating both Draco and Blaise.

"Control my magic?" Harry sat up straighter a look of worry crossing his face. "You mean those two will be able to use my magic?" Harry asked, looking in the direction of the two Slytherins, who had remained silent for the last few minutes while Dumbledore spoke. 

"No,” Dumbledore reassured Harry. “They will not be able to use your magic, or make you use it against your will, the only access they have to your magic, is to stop it from overwhelming you. They will be able to stop the accidental magic from doing what it nearly did during the Halloween feast," Dumbledore explained, Harry relaxed back in his seat, still looking at Blaise and Draco with a curious expression. 

Harry couldn’t help but wonder why his magic had called those two. There had been hundreds of others in the Great Hall, people that Harry was closer to, and people who would have been far more willing to help him than these two Slytherins.

"Now, if there are no more questions I believe-"

"I have one more question," Harry said quickly, sitting up straight in his chair again to look at Dumbledore. A small blush spread across Harry’s cheeks when he realised he had just cut Dumbledore off mid sentence. Giving the Headmaster an apologetic look, Harry turned to face Draco and Blaise once more. "I have a question for you two,” Harry said. 

Blaise raised an eyebrow at the smaller boy. “And what would that be?” he asked. 

"Why are you accepting this so easily?" Harry questioned, watching Blaise look at Draco, the two of them sharing a look with each other. The silent communication between the two spoke volumes about their relationship and Harry couldn’t help but feel like he was watching a rather private moment between the two Slytherins.

"That is simple, Potter,” Blaise said, breaking eye contact with the blond to once again look at Harry, “if we had not answered the call your magic sent to us, if we had refused to help, you would have died,” Blaise said bluntly. “Right now your magic is raw and exposed, not only could you do irreversible damage to yourself, but you could probably kill half the school as well if you were to completely lose control,” Blaise said. 

While Harry was grateful for such a straightforward answer, he wasn’t sure how he should feel about it. He did, however, believe that Blaise spoke the truth, and so, satisfied with Blaise’s answer, Harry looked at Draco. 

Draco sighed when he realised that Harry was expecting an answer from him as well. "As much as I have disliked you these past few years, Potter, I have never wished for you to die. This is also beneficial to me and my family. I have fought against my father time and time again about following the Dark Lord, and being bonded to you gives me a slight advantage in that." Draco smirked at the look of surprise on Harry’s face. 

"It really doesn't help you, you know,” Harry pointed out. “Being bonded to me, it just makes you more of a target for Voldemort,” sighing, Harry glanced at Dumbledore. "So, what happens now, professor?" Harry asked.

"I believe the best course of action would be to set up some private quarters for the three of you,” the Headmaster suggested, holding up his hand before any of them could protest. “It will give the three of you a private place to go, and the space you will need to get to know each other,” Dumbledore said, smiling at the three students. “Now, since Harry has just gotten out of the hospital wing - though I am sure that he did not have permission to leave just yet," he added, eyes twinkling, "you three are excused from classes today. If you wish to talk things over among yourselves I will allow you to use my private rooms until yours can be sorted out,” Dumbledore offered. 

"I don’t think that will be necessary,” Draco said before pulling away from Blaise. He turned to give his boyfriend a small smile, before returning his attention to the Headmaster.“I wish to go and speak with my Godfather," Draco informed Dumbledore. 

"Very well, I shall send a house elf to inform you when the rooms are finished," Dumbledore said as he stood up. Harry, not wanting to be the only one left sitting, quickly got to his feet as well. 

"I think I should go pack my things, and maybe explain things to my friends,” Harry said. 

"Why don't you just leave that for the house elves to do? That's their job anyway," Draco said, blinking in confusion when Harry glared at him. Harry didn’t say anything else as he turned and stormed out of the room. 

"Let him go do as he pleases, obviously he picked up some bad habits being raised by muggles." Blaise kissed Draco's cheek, grinning at the slight blush that appeared on the pale skin. "Go talk to Professor Snape, I'll catch up with you later," he promised and Draco nodded leaving the room a lot more quietly than Harry had. Blaise waited until the door was closed before he turned and looked at Dumbledore.

\------------x

Harry did his best to ignore the other students in the hallways as he quickly made his way up to Gryffindor tower. His only thought was to get there so he could pack his things and hopefully find Ron, so he could talk to the redhead. However, as he came to a stop in front of the portrait, Harry looked up at the fat lady and found that he didn’t really want to go inside. 

He had gotten a good idea of what the whole school thought about the Halloween incident, just from the short walk from the Headmaster’s office to here. Harry felt like his stomach was twisting into knots, as he tried to think of how his housemates were going to react, which was a difficult thing to do seeing as how they knew better than him what had occurred in the Great Hall that night. One thing Harry did know however, was that no one had come to visit him while he was in the hospital wing, as his customary cards and gifts had been missing from his bedside. 

Mentally bracing himself, Harry gave the password to the Fat Lady, watching the portrait swing open. Taking a deep breath, Harry slowly climbed through the hole; the first thing he noticed as the door swung shut behind him, was that the common room was unusually quiet. Looking around the room and seeing everyone staring at him, Harry was starting to regret not getting a house elf to come up here instead, however, if he had done that there was no telling when he was going to be able to see Ron. 

Taking a deep breath, Harry scanned the room for the redhead. Not seeing Ron anywhere, Harry sighed before making his way across the room to the stairs. He had only made it halfway across the room before Dean stood in his way.

"Haven't you caused enough damage to this house?" Dean asked, narrowing his eyes at the smaller boy. Harry looked up at him in confusion, he hadn’t expected anyone to actually stop him from going up to the dorm room. “What are you doing here?” Dean demanded. 

“I came to find Ron, I need-”

"No one cares what you need, Potter,” Dean interrupted. “Ron told us what happened, and there was no reason to react the way that you did,” Dean continued.

"What did I do?” Harry asked, worried that he had actually done some serious harm to his best friend. Whatever it is, I didn't mean to-"

"You never mean to!” Seamus cut him off this time, coming to stand next to Dean. “But that’s what always happens isn’t it? People who get close to you always end up hurt,” Seamus said. 

“Or worse,” Dean added. “How much longer do you think Weasley and Granger can survive being around you?" Dean narrowed his eyes at Harry, who took a step back as if he had been hit. He was looking from one of them to the other his eyes wide and unbelieving. 

“Don’t look at us like that, Potter,” Seamus said in annoyance. "First year you dragged your supposed best friends with you to go after that crazy teacher; no one even knows what happened in second year, people were being attacked and as soon as fingers were pointed at you, the attacks stopped,” Seamus said his eyes still narrowed as he looked at Harry. 

The smaller boy continued standing there, staring at him and Dean with wide eyes. Harry was well aware of how quiet the whole common room had gotten. Everyone was listening to Seamus and Dean as they continued pointing out all the ways that Harry had put people in danger. 

“Third year,” Dean said, picking up where Seamus had left off, “Sirius Black shows up here and nearly killed Ron in his sleep thinking it was you. And let's not forget last year, why don't you tell us how Cedric died?" Dean asked. “After all of this, maybe there was a reason why You-Know-Who tried to kill you when you were a baby.” 

Harry swallowed hard as he could, vividly remember Voldemort's voice, ‘kill the spare!’, and Cedric’s body hitting the ground. It was still an image that haunted Harry’s nightmares, no matter how much he tried to pretend that he was fine. Slowly Harry started backing away, shaking his head, Dean's words having more of an effect then they should have. 

Harry really hadn’t needed Seamus or Dean to tell him about the past four years, Harry could remember all too well how much danger he had put not only himself in, but his best friends as well, but had never meant for any of it to happen. Harry couldn’t help but think that maybe Dean had been right, if Voldemort had succeeded in killing him as a baby, then none of this would have ever happened. Even though Harry tried to tell himself that things would be worse if he had been killed, he didn’t know if he could actually bring himself to believe that right now, not with the mental image of Cedric's dead body still in his mind. 

“I…” Harry looked around the room, all the eyes on him. The judgmental and hateful stares were too much for him to handle at the moment, so Harry did the first thing that came to mind, he turned and ran from the common room. In his haste to get out of the common room, Harry accidently knocked Hermione over, but he didn’t stop, not even when she called out for him. 

Harry ran as fast as he could, ignoring everyone and everything around him, his feet pounded against the stone floor as he put in a burst of speed, just in case someone was following him. Harry knew he needed to find some place to go, some place he could hide and try to put his thoughts back in order. However, Harry was finding it extremely difficult to focus, as the familiar feeling of his magic started to tingle under his skin.

Turning a corner Harry paused for a moment, leaning up against the wall to catch his breath. Dean’s words were still echoing through his mind and Harry closed his eyes tightly. “Don’t think about it,” he told himself, thumping his head against the wall he was leaning against. “Don’t think about it.” The words did nothing to stop the memories from invading his mind, everyone he knew always got hurt, some people had even died because they had been too close to him. 

Shaking his head quickly, Harry pushed off from the wall and continued running, though now it was more to escape his own thoughts. Harry rounded the corner, prepared to keep on running until he couldn’t anymore. Only to come a sudden stop as he ran into a solid body, sending both him and the other person falling to the floor. 

"Potter?" 

Harry blinked and looked up to see Blaise sitting on the floor in front of him. ‘Everyone close to you get’s hurt’, the words echoed in Harry’s mind and he shifted away from Blaise. 

“What happened?” Blaise asked. Though he tried to hide it, there was still concern in his voice as he stared at the pale trembling boy. Harry didn’t answer, just shifting further away from him. Pulling himself to his feet, Blaise stepped forward, offering his hand to help Harry up. The smaller boy just shook his head, moving back until he was against the wall. 

“You… you and Malfoy, this was a mistake, you shouldn’t be bonded with me…” Harry said, not looking up at the tan boy. Blaise watched Harry in confusion as the smaller boy slowly stood up and dusted himself off. 

“We just talked about this less than an hour ago, I thought everything was settled. What could have happened to change your mind in such a short amount of time?” Blaise asked, stepping forward again, raising an eyebrow as Harry shifted along the wall, obviously trying to keep his distance. Reaching out Blaise put one hand next to Harry's head, halting any more attempts to move away. 

Wide green eyes stared up at him, and Blaise just stared down at Harry for a long moment, his other hand coming up to cup Harry’s cheek. He could feel the power radiating off of Harry, it truly worried him and made him very curious as to what could have upset the Gryffindor so much. 

“Look, Potter, you don’t have any obligation to tell me anything,” Blaise said, keeping his eyes locked with Harry’s. “I don’t know what, or who, got you so worked up that your magic is reaching dangerous levels, but I would suggest that you avoid whatever got you in such a state,” Blaise said. 

Harry found himself leaning against Blaise's cool hand, it felt soothing. As soon as Blaise had touched his cheek, Harry had felt his magic settling right back down to a manageable level. It definitely was a lot faster, and less painful way to regain control of his magic, when the only other option was to find an old classroom and destroy that. 

"There, that's better yes?" Blaise dropped his hand and backed away. "Were you going to get your things from your dorm room?" Blaise asked and Harry bit his lip looking down for a moment. He really wanted to make sure he got everything out of there but he would be even less popular than he already was if he asked Blaise to come along with him to make sure he didn't blow up the common room.

"No… I think I'll let one of the house elves get it for me after all…” Harry said, running a hand through his hair as he tried to center himself again after his near breakdown. “I don't think I'm exactly welcome in the tower right now.” He chuckled weakly, trying to mask how much that fact actually hurt. 

"Well, you did do some minor damage to the Weasel." Blaise shrugged, not seeming all that concerned with Harry’s current predicament. 

Harry's eyes widened as he looked up at the tan boy. "How badly did I hurt him?" Harry asked. He hadn’t seen Ron in the hospital wing, so he had assumed that his friend hadn’t actually been hurt. But if his outburst had in fact hurt his best friend, then Harry couldn’t blame Dean for being so angry.

"A bump on the head, and a few cuts on his hand from the glass, nothing major. I'm sure he's had worse before," Blaise said with a shrug of his shoulder, he truly didn’t care about what happened to the loud mouth red-head of Gryffindor. 

"He may have had worse before, but… I've never been the one personally responsible for hurting him!" Harry's voice wavered slightly, thinking once more on what what Dean had said, along with Blaise’s comment. It was true that Ron had had worse, and even if Harry hadn’t been the one directly responsible all those other times, it had still been his fault. The truth of Dean’s words hit Harry like a bucket of ice water; both Ron and Hermione never would have been hurt if they hadn’t been friends with him. 

"If you ask me,” Blaise spoke, cutting into Harry’s thoughts, “you're putting too much thought into it. He got hurt, Pomfrey fixed him up and he was out of the hospital wing sooner than you were," Blaise said, keeping his attention fixed on Harry. It wasn’t hard to figure out what Harry was getting so upset about. 

Blaise had spent the last four years watching Ron and Harry together, as had most of Slytherin. Though, unlike the others in his house, Blaise had been more curious about the odd friendship. While no one in Slytherin really liked Harry all that much, most of them hated Ron even more, the main reason being that the redhead made it far too obvious that he was hanging onto Harry, trying to get in on some of the fame that Harry had. After all, people tended to notice you if you were the best friend of the boy who lived. 

Draco had been right in first year, some wizarding families were better than others. However, Blaise was at least willing to admit that perhaps not all of Ron’s family were as bad as their youngest son. Blaise would never admit it outloud, but he did have a begrudging respect for the twins. He wasn’t a fan of loud people in general, but the twins made it a point to live their own way, no matter what others thought of them. 

"I need to go find Ron, I’ve got to talk to him," Harry said quickly, moving to walk around Blaise and go search for the redhead. 

Blaise reached out and caught Harry’s arm before the smaller boy could make it to far. "Why don't I just come with you?” Blaise said, unwilling to let Harry go so soon after he had nearly lost hold on his magic. “I have nothing important to do right now and Draco is going to be a while talking with Professor Snape," Blaise explained when Harry gave him a curious look. 

"No,” Harry said shaking his head. “I think it might be better if I talked to Ron alone, I need to explain what’s going on to him. He’s already going to be angry enough with me," Harry said, trying to hide how nervous he felt about talking to his friends, but he had to see for himself that Ron was okay. 

"All the more reason for me to come with you. It's no secret that the Weasel has a temper," Blaise said, and even if Harry still insisted on going alone, Blaise was still going to follow him regardless. 

Harry chewed on his lower lip. He could see the point Blaise was trying to make. Harry knew that Ron had a short temper, he also knew what was most likely to set Ron off, and if the redhead was angry with Harry it was going to be hard enough to have a conversation with him without bringing Blaise along as well. 

"Besides," Blaise continued after a moment when Harry didn’t say anything, "what happens when he gets you worked up? Your magic is still unstable and if he says the wrong thing and get’s you angry, you could accidentally hurt him again,” Blaise pointed out, smirking slightly as Harry lowered his head in defeat. 

“You’re going to follow me anyway, aren’t you?” Harry asked, glancing back up at him. 

Blaise’s smirk widened. “You’re smarter than some people give you credit for.”

Harry frowned, not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not, but decided that it didn’t matter. "Alright… I already checked the tower so I don’t think he was in there,” Harry said, even though he hadn’t actually made it up to the dorm rooms. “Maybe down by the lake,” Harry said, turning and hurrying off down the hall, not bothering to see if Blaise was actually following him or not. 

Blaise followed Harry easily enough, the smaller boy wasn’t running, but he was walking quickly through the halls. The fast pace was made easier for the two of them as Blaise noticed the other students were in fact moving out of Harry’s way as they saw him coming. Glancing around at the other students as they moved, Blaise frowned when he realised that people were moving to avoid being close to Harry. Blaise sent a glare at a couple third years, who shuffled as far out of Harry's way as possible when he walked passed. Blaise really wasn’t happy with how people were treating Harry at the moment, as if he were some kind of horrible creature that would attack them if they even looked at him the wrong way. 

Blaise wasn’t entirely sure where this sudden wave of protectiveness toward Harry came from, though he suspected that it had something to do with the bond they now shared. All Blaise knew was that even the thought of leaving Harry alone at the moment was enough to have his hand twitching toward his wand, silently daring anyone to try and hurt Harry while he was around. It was the same fierce protectiveness that Blaise felt toward Draco, whenever he thought his blond boyfriend might get hurt. 

Blaise had to wonder if it was because he was the oldest out of the three of them, or if Draco would feel the same amount of protectiveness towards Harry. The tan boy made a mental note to ask Draco about it later, and for right now would deal with the fact that he had a responsibility to protect both Draco and Harry. Blaise didn’t mind the looking-after-Draco part, but he was still very unhappy about these foreign feelings towards Harry. 

Blaise had never had any personal opinion about Harry Potter, though like most other Slytherins, Blaise found Harry to be an annoyance, he was willing to also admit that the only main reason that he disliked Harry was because of how much Draco hated him; the fact that Harry was obviously given special treatment by the Headmaster didn’t help either. And if given the chance, Blaise would not have chosen to be bonded to the small Gryffindor. 

The only reason he wasn't fighting the bonding was because it really would add some security for his and Draco's life. Being bound to the boy-who-lived would give Draco, and himself the protection of Dumbledore and the side of the light. And though very little of the bond was known at this point, Blaise was fairly sure that the reason why Dumbledore was allowing this bond to continue, and didn’t seem to worried that Harry would be handed off to Voldemort, is because the bond would not allow Blaise or Draco to knowingly put Harry in danger. 

This, of course, was just an assumption, based on the simple fact that Blaise was following Harry now, because of the possibility that Harry could be hurt by Weasley. The ginger was well known for his temper, and Blaise didn’t want to take the chance that the Weasel would try and hurt Harry. 

Harry glanced over his shoulder, frowning when he saw that Blaise was still following him. He wanted to ask the tan boy why he was following, or tell him that he didn’t have to, but for some reason he refrained from doing so, remembering from before that Blaise had basically told him he was going to follow, whether Harry wanted him to or not. 

Letting out a small sigh, Harry turned back again, slowing his pace down to something resembling a normal walk. He really didn’t like this situation at all, and he wondered what Blaise and Draco really thought about the bond. Glancing once again toward Blaise, he silently debated with himself over whether he should ask the tan boy or not, but Harry couldn't seem to bring himself to start a normal conversation with the boy following him. He didn't want to talk to Blaise, nor Draco for that matter, he wasn't comfortable enough to do so yet, and Harry wondered if he would ever be comfortable enough around the two Slytherin’s to talk to them. And even if he could talk to them, there was no guarantee that they would want to talk to him; after all, if what Dumbledore had said was true, he had trapped both Blaise and Draco into this bond, all because he had lost control of his magic. 

Harry knew his control was better than it used to be, he had in fact gotten better at controlling it over the years, the only thing that had caused a problem, and made his control slip, was because he hadn’t been able to control his temper. Harry knew what he had to do, but there was no way to just not be angry. Not when everyone seemed set on controlling his life for him. He trusted Dumbledore, he really had no reason not to, but the old wizard was probably the worse culprit for choosing things that would change Harry's life drastically. This time, it was now affecting people other than Harry. Though he didn't like anyone in Slytherin, he couldn't help the feeling of guilt that was forming.

The chilly Autumn air hit Harry’s face when he walked out the front doors, turning his attention toward the lake immediately. Harry smiled when he could easily see Fred and George down there, and although he couldn’t see the face of the third redhead with them, Harry knew it was Ron. Without a glance back at Blaise, Harry took off at a run, heading down to the lake. 

Blaise shook his head and followed quickly, shivering slightly as the Autumn air blew. Blaise grumbled softly as he kept his eyes on Harry; the least the smaller boy could have done was grab a cloak before coming outside. It was the first week of November, and even though there was no snow, it was still chilly. 

Hurrying his pace to catch up with Harry, and tell him off for not dressing warmer, Blaise’s attention shifted as they neared the lake, narrowing his eyes when he saw the three Weasley’s standing by the lake. Ron was sitting down throwing pebbles into the lake while his twin brothers were standing off to the side glancing at their younger brother every now and then. Blaise saw the moment they noticed Harry approaching, they paused in whatever they were talking about, moving to intercept Harry, who wasn’t paying any attention to them, instead he was heading straight toward Ron. Blaise sped up a bit more and grabbed Harry's arm as Fred and George came to them.

"Oi, Harry," one of the twins said while the other gave Blaise a curious distrustful look. “Look,” the first twin continued. “we figured you'd want to talk to Ron, but I don't think now is such a good time." Fred glanced over his shoulder where Ron was throwing another rock into the lake, either not having noticed them, or just ignoring everyone around him. 

Harry could tell by how tense he looked that Ron was really upset. This just made Harry want to talk to him more, he had to apologize. “I just need to talk to him,” Harry said, looking pleadingly toward Fred. 

"Harry, we know you didn't mean what you did," Fred said with a small sigh, looking more serious than Harry had ever seen either of them look before.

"And honestly our little brother probably deserved what you gave him," George pointed out. "But, he's still our brother and well… Harry that was some pretty strong accidental magic. If you try to talk to him now it will probably end up in a fight, and well…” George trailed off, not sure of how to continue. But he didn’t have to, it was clear enough to Harry what the twins were trying to tell him. 

"I… you think I'd hurt him again..." Harry said staring at the twins, he felt something squeeze painfully in his chest. He had hoped that there would be someone who still trusted him, had hoped that his magic hadn’t done so much damage that his friends, people he considered to be the family he had never had, would be afraid of him now, wouldn’t trust him near them.

"It's not that, Harry, really it's not." Fred said quickly, but both twins could tell from the look on Harry’s face, the damage had been done. Harry could be a very strong person when he was standing up and protecting someone he thought needed it, but they had seen more than once how easily Harry could and would turn things around to make them his fault. 

"Harry,” George said, in an attempt to fix what he had just done, 

“we just don't want you and Ron to be fighting right now. Ron is really stubborn and knowing him he'll say things that will just make you upset with him," Fred tried to explain, but it was clear that Harry wasn’t really listening. The smaller Gryffindor just stared at them blankly for a moment, before giving a small nod as if he understood them. Harry pulled his arm free from Blaise, and turning, he ran back up towards the castle.

“Harry!” Fred called after him, letting out a sigh and looking to George when Harry didn’t stop. 

"Well this is bloody brilliant." George sighed. "We'll have to catch him in the common room tonight and talk to him then."

"Harry won't be in the common room tonight." Blaise glared at the two of them his fists clenched at his side. He was fighting against the urge to punch the identical faces in front of him, because Blaise knew the only reason for his sudden anger was because Harry had just been hurt by these two, and while punching them would make him feel better, it would do nothing to help Harry, or the situation. "I should warn you now,” Blaise said softly, keeping his glare fixed on the twins, “if I see anyone with red hair near Harry I will shoot spells first and ask questions later." Blaise turned, leaving two confused Weasley's staring after him, and went back up to the castle to find Harry before there were any more outbursts of possibly dangerous accidental magic.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

A special thanks to Hannah who did the beta reading for me on this.

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 2

Draco Malfoy sat in the private rooms that belonged to his godfather, sipping at the tea that the house elf had brought him. Severus was still teaching class, so Draco had to wait until he was done. Well teaching wouldn't be the right word for it since the class he was teaching was a bunch of first years, so when he was done yelling. Severus would be in to talk to Draco about the situation he now found himself in. Staring into his teacup he thought about what had happened during Harry's episode in the great hall.

* * * * Great Hall - Halloween night* * * *

Every kid in Hogwarts always looked forward to the Halloween feast, it was one of the few times that the great hall was actually full. This year after the feast, the students in fifth year and above were allowed to attend a costume party that would take place after the feast. Draco had been looking forward to it, though he was less vocal about it then everyone else, he did have an image to maintain after all. Even more so now that his father was going through great lengths to ruin their family name by kneeling before the Dark Lord. Draco had not publicly chosen a side, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he would eventually have to. Or his father would force him into a decision. But even then Draco stood by the knowledge that he had been raised with, Malfoy's do not bow before anyone.

"You're brooding again." Blaise whispered in Draco's ear as he leaned over the blond boy, pretending to grab some candy that was on the other side of him.

"I am not brooding. I am merely thinking." Draco informed him, glaring at the hand that was reaching over his plate.

"Do I even want to know what you are 'thinking' about to have that look on your face?" Blaise grabbed the candy putting it over on his own plate.

"I am thinking that I may not have much time left before I have to make a decision." Draco didn't want to get into details here in the great hall with so many people that could listen in.

"You know, no matter what you choose I'm going to be with you." Blaise promised. "Though I will say that one of the choices makes me happier than the other does."

"I agree, I mean really, why would I want to mark up my perfect skin with something so tacky?" Draco sounded so serious about what he had just said, that it took Blaise a moment before he started laughing.

"Only you Draco love. Only you." He leaned over again, this time intending to capture a kiss from his boyfriend, but was denied as Draco put candy corn in his mouth.

"If I do decide not to follow my father with his foolish decisions, I will still need a place to go and I would much rather not leave the country if I can help it. But I'm not really seeing any other option at the moment." Draco sighed poking at his own food not feeling very hungry any more. Before Blaise could even start thinking about a response to that there was a loud up-rawer from the Gryffindor table.

"Don't they ever know how to be quiet?" Pansy asked as the shouting got louder.

"Apparently not, come on Blaise, I'm done eating and I need time to get ready for the party." Draco stood up and looked at the dark skinned boy who grabbed a sandwich before standing up.

"You do know the party isn't starting for another two hours right Draco?" He asked as they headed towards the door of the great hall.

"Exactly, I just hope it's enough time." Draco said, his expression deadly serious.

"Even though I've seen you naked plenty of times I still swear that you are more of a girl then Pansy is." Blaise laughed at the look Draco gave him.

"And I would like to know when it was that you saw Pansy naked, Blaise." Draco sounded upset, but he knew that Blaise had never been with the pug-faced girl. They had made it half way across the hall when the yelling at the Gryffindor table exploded, or maybe it wasn't just the yelling, since it literally exploded, sending people screaming as they were thrown back away from a figure that was on the floor curled up around himself. Everything happened so quickly after that. One second Draco was standing there staring as the teachers hurried down from the head table and attempted to get to the huddled form of Harry Potter. And the next something had shot out from Potter hitting both Draco and Blaise, though Draco hadn't really noticed the spell as he had already started moving forward passing right through the shield that Potter had put around himself.

The scream that hit his ears when he was inside the shield as well made him stumble back right into Blaise who had followed him into the shield. There was a silent understanding as they looked at each other and hurried to the fallen boy's side. Blaise wrapped his arms around Potter holding him closer as Draco knelt in front of Potter trying to get him to focus on them.

* * * * Back to Present Time * * * *

Draco put down his empty tea cup. Blaise had seemed convinced after Potter was taken to the hospital wing, that someone must have hit them with a spell. Potter's magic would not have acted on its own. But they had decided beforehand that they would tell that information to Potter when they were sure that his magic was once again stable. Draco looked up when Severus came into his rooms slamming the door behind them.

"Bad day?" Draco asked politely.

"Every day I have to teach first years is a bad day." Severus said pouring himself a cup of tea as he sat down. "I heard that Potter is finally awake."

"Yeah, he is. I don't think he's too happy with these new arrangements though." Draco shrugged, making it obvious that he didn't really care if Harry was happy with the arrangements or not. It was something that none of them were happy with and all three of them would have to just deal with it until it could be un-done.

"I would imagine not. But please tell me that you did not come here just to complain to me about it." Severus watched as Draco slouched slightly in the chair and sighed.

"I am just trying to figure out how this happened, once that is figured out then we can work towards undoing it. Blaise and I were hit with a spell Halloween night. That much I am sure of. I am trying to find out who could have thrown the spell, or what it was exactly."

"All I can say is that it appeared to come from the direction of the Gryffindor's, and it had not been aimed at you but at Potter. It looked as if his shield absorbed the spell and then shot it at the two of you. From there we can only guess what happened. Magic still has many mysteries, even people who have been raised in the magical world are sometimes confused why magic acts the way it does. It is something that when under enough stress will act on its own and do whatever is necessary to protect us. So perhaps you and Mr. Zabini being hit with that spell, may have helped Potter's magic to realize you were the right people to help him."

"So it really was Potter who forced Blaise and me to bond to him?" Draco snapped.

"In a way yes, Potter's magic needed someone to ground it because Potter apparently is not capable of doing so himself."

"I understand that. I know it's happened at least once in my family before, but they still had help with the bonding spell. It didn't just happen. And this isn't a normal bonding spell like that. If it were then..." Draco shook his head. "There's something more to this spell. I don't know what it is yet but...there is something different. I don't think I can really explain it." Draco looked down at his empty cup, how to explain that this was definitely more than a simple bonding spell, well there really was no such thing as a simple bonding spell to begin with. There were some that were more complicated than others, and even more that the ministry had banned years ago.

"I think the wisest thing to do right now is to start researching different types of bonds, test your new bond with Potter and try to determine what kind it is. Then we can work on breaking it." Severus said and Draco nodded, reaching to pour himself some more tea when Severus hissed gripping his left arm. Draco stopped and looked at him, glancing at his arm knowing that it was the dark mark that was currently giving pain to Severus.

"Sev...?" Draco asked and the potions master shook his head. He waited a moment or two before he stood up.

"I cannot ignore this. I will continue speaking with you later Draco." He went to his fireplace and flooed up to Dumbledore's office to inform him of the summons.

"Please be careful Severus. This is a very unusual time for Voldemort to summon you." Dumbledore watched as Severus gave a single nod and stepped through the fireplace vanishing. Dumbledore couldn't help but be slightly worried that Voldemort might have found out already about the new circumstances involving Harry and Draco Malfoy, who had had his name down to be a death eater since his birth. If Voldemort did know about it already then things would be getting far more complicated than any of them could deal with right now.

Harry ran up towards the castle, not bothering to see if Blaise was following him. Little by little his life was crashing down around him, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't go back to Gryffindor tower, no one wanted him there. He wondered how much longer it would be before his new rooms were done, but then thinking about that, he decided he wouldn't really want to go there right now anyway. He needed somewhere he could go where it would be quiet and he could think, hoping that if he could do that he wouldn't lose control of his magic again, since Harry was sure that he could feel it building up again. If he could put some real effort into keeping his magic where it belonged then maybe he wouldn't need Blaise or Draco after all. But would it really be that simple? He stopped just outside the castle and looked around. He could see Blaise coming up after him from the lake where Fred, George and Ron still were. If he kept running Blaise would catch up eventually anyway. He turned again and looked over at the pitch a small smile forming. He could always go flying. He wouldn't get much thinking done but he'd be able to forget about everything while he was in the air. All his things were still in Gryffindor tower though, but if he did this right he might be able to get his broom. Running around the castle until he found the right spot, he pulled out his wand summoning his broom, grinning when it flew out the window and came down stopping just in front of him. He mounted the broom not really thinking about how much colder it would be in the air, since he didn't have a cloak or even a sweater on. He just needed to fly, it was the only place he could be right now where he could avoid everything for a little while. Kicking off from the ground he flew out towards the Quidditch pitch, glancing down only once to see Blaise change direction and follow him.

The wind whipped around him as he flew higher and higher, he knew he wouldn't be able to stay up here very long so he made the best of his time flying around the pitch as fast as he could, knowing that his problems would be waiting for him once he had landed. But just for a few moments he was able to out fly them, up here nothing mattered. Blaise and Draco didn't matter, neither did Voldemort. Up here Ron could hate him as much as he wanted and it didn't matter to Harry. They were a million miles away in his mind, this was his time, his place. He closed his eyes feeling the cold wind against his face thinking how nice it would to have a cup of hot cocoa while sitting in front of the fire once he was finished flying. It wasn't until he slowed down letting his broom float around at a much slower pace that he knew he probably wouldn't be able to do that, and even if he could it wouldn't be the same without Ron and Hermione there. Looking down on the ground he saw Blaise standing down there looking up at him, Harry got the feeling that he was debating coming up after him. Why had he followed Harry out here? Harry knew that he couldn't possibly be worried about him, he and Blaise didn't even know each other, to Harry, Blaise had always been nothing more than one of those Slytherins that he saw in class or passed in the hallway. Had they even talked at all before today? It was then that he realized it must be the bond. It was forcing him to follow Harry around to make sure he didn't hurt himself. Looking away from the boy on the ground Harry went back to flying. Staying up in the air for a little while longer, not wanting to face reality again so soon. But it was cold and the last thing he wanted or needed was to land himself in the hospital wing again because he got sick. Circling around he landed on the ground a few feet away from Blaise.

"I have to wonder if you really do have a death wish or something. Why would you go flying without changing into something warmer?" Blaise asked and Harry shrugged.

"I can't go back too Gryffindor tower and get my clothes. And our rooms aren't done yet." Harry said through chattering teeth, only then realizing how cold he really was. Blaise sighed and took off his own cloak draping it around Harry who almost flinched from the unexpected contact.

"You really are stupid." Blaise shook his head. "Let's go inside. I want to find Draco." Blaise started walking stopping and looking back at Harry who was just standing there one hand holding the larger cloak shut around him and holding his broom in the other. "I'm not going to carry you. You shouldn't stay out here any longer because neither Draco nor I have time to take care of you if you get sick Potter." That seemed to get Harry's feet moving and he followed Blaise back up to the castle, watching the ground again as they walked.

"You didn't have to follow me down here." Harry said softly looking up after a few moments when Blaise didn't answer.

"I didn't have much of a choice. It's November and you decide to go flying without proper gear on. I've seen better flyers then you fall off their brooms because they couldn't hold on any longer when they got to cold." Blaise didn't look back at Harry when he said this. But Harry understood, it really was the bond that was making him follow Harry around. He turned his gaze back to the ground thinking that over. It didn't take long to make up his mind, he might not like Draco or Blaise, but he would do what he could to make this arrangement easier. He continued following Blaise, until he realized that they were headed into the great hall. Harry stopped and looked at the doors, and then at Blaise who had apparently caught sight of Draco, Blaise didn't even glance in Harry's direction as he walked off towards the Slytherin table sitting next to the blond and putting an arm around his shoulder. He leaned in to give Draco a quick kiss. Harry had to admit that those two really were a close couple, anyone could see that if they took the time and looked. Turing his gaze in the direction of the Gryffindor table Harry sighed and turned around leaving the great hall. He had already dealt with everyone there today, and being practically kicked out of the tower was bad enough for one day.

Draco glanced up from the table in time to see Harry leave the great hall and shook his head. "This is going to be really difficult Blaise." Draco said looking at the Italian boy. "These new feelings for him. They're not mine, and I hate it." Draco started dishing himself up some lunch as Blaise put together a sandwich.

"I know Draco, but it's not something that can easily be ignored either." Blaise pointed out hoping he could stop Draco before he tried doing just that. It wouldn't be good for any of them if Draco fought against the bond. "Just go with it for now, the intense urges should be gone in a couple months depending on how much time we spend with Potter." Blaise stacked up his sandwich. "So did you have a good talk with Professor Snape?"

"For the most part. He was called away for a meeting. But he suggested that we test the bond and do some research as to what kind of bond it might be. I plan on going to the library after lunch and staying there for the majority of the day until our rooms are done."

"We should round up Potter and bring him with us so he doesn't get into any more trouble." Blaise ignored the look Draco gave him.

"Why would I want to bring Potter with me? We're going to be spending enough time with him as it is." Draco argued.

"Yes we will be, but just since this morning his magic has nearly gotten the best of him twice. He went up to pack his things, I don't know the details of exactly what happened. But the other Gryffindor's are apparently not happy with him. The whole house seems to be taking this whole thing badly!"

"Of course they wouldn't be happy with him. He attacked one of their own and is now bonded to two snakes." Draco pointed out. "Though...now that I think about it, no one really knows that last bit do they?" Draco looked around the Slytherin table expecting to see a few glares shot his way. But there were none.

"Give it until tomorrow love, they'll most likely know by then. When we don't come back to the common room and our stuff goes missing." Blaise started eating his sandwich and Draco nodded his agreement. Tomorrow morning they would be the talk of the whole school, once it had been confirmed among the students that the three of them had been bonded. Right now people were more concerned about the fact that Harry Potter was back on his feet, and most of them were worried if he was going to lose control of his magic again. Knowing how things usually went around here the rumors would grow until the record was set straight.

The two boys finished their small lunch and while everyone else headed off to their next class Blaise and Draco decided to just head to the library since they really had no clue where Harry Potter would go, and trying to search the whole school for him would be a waste of time.

"We should think of a way to keep track of him though." Draco thought as they headed into the library.

"Well, if something sets him off again we'll know how to find him. But I do agree I would like to keep track of him before it gets to that point." Blaise sighed. "I just hope he didn't decide to go back outside and fly around some more." Blaise followed Draco over to a table and sat down while the blond went about gathering books for himself and sitting down. Looking at the titles of the books. "Not researching the bond?" Blaise teased.

"I have my potions essay to finish writing." Draco pulled out a blank parchment.

"I'm surprised you waited this long to do it." Blaise leaned back in his seat enjoying the view sitting across from him. He knew why Draco always saved his potions homework for last, being his best subject Draco was able to get his homework done quickly. It was a good system to do homework in, start with your worse subject and get it out of the way before moving on to something that was a bit more easier for you. Blaise had already finished his homework, and since he and Draco didn't have classes again until tomorrow he was content to sit here and watch Draco do his own homework.

It was nearing dinner time by the time Draco had finished his homework. The only reason it had taken him that long was because Blaise had a bad habit of distracting him. A few times Draco was sure that Madam Pince had been on the verge of throwing them out of the library a time or two when Blaise had moved over to the other side of the table so he was sitting next to Draco instead of across from him. It was shortly after that, that Blaise's hand started wandering up Draco's leg. Only the threat of being stabbed with a quill had made Blaise stop long enough for Draco to get something done. It hadn't lasted long though, so Draco scribbled down a couple more sentences and made a mental note to double check his work later when Blaise wasn't being annoying. It was on their way out of the library that the house elf appeared and told them that their rooms had been finished and that the headmaster would be showing them to their rooms after supper.

"Right, you should pop off and tell Potter then." Blaise said ignoring the house elf as it bowed low before vanishing. Draco sighed brushing a few strands of hair back into place.

"I think I would much rather skip dinner, I want to take a look at our new rooms because if it was Dumbledore who decided on the decorating I know there are things that I am going to be changing.' Draco gave Blaise a look when the other boy let out a small chuckle.

"Even if he hadn't been the one to decorate the room Draco, you would still want to change things around anyway." Blaise pointed out as he put an arm over Draco's shoulder leading him off to the great all.

Dinner had been uneventful though Draco and Blaise had both noticed that Harry hadn't shown up to eat anything. Blaise couldn't remember Potter being there for lunch at all either, nor had he been in there for breakfast since they had all been called up to the headmaster's office that morning. It had been a stressful day so Blaise shrugged it off. He and Draco weren't really eating all that much today either and just because Potter wasn't in the great hall didn't mean he wasn't eating. He made a mental note to keep half an eye on that and leaned back slightly in his seat as the other students finished their own dinner and left. Blaise and Draco remained in their seats after dinner, waiting for professor Dumbledore to show them to their new rooms. They didn't have to wait long for the old wizard to finish his own meal and stand up going over to the doors of the great all.

Blaise and Draco decided that they were supposed to follow the headmaster, gathering up their bags they too left the Great Hall.

"I am glad that all three of you got my message, though Harry, I do have to express a slight concern that you were not here for lunch, or dinner." Dumbledore turned his twinkling gaze onto the black haired boy who gave a slight shrug.

"I just wasn't hungry sir, I've had a lot to think about today. I did get an apple from the kitchens earlier though." Harry admitted, granted he had grabbed the apple during lunch time. But he genuinely wasn't all that hungry.

"Very well. Follow me please, and I will show you to your new rooms." Dumbledore went up the stairs leading away from the great hall. Their rooms were located on the second floor behind a suit of armor that when given the right password stepped aside to reveal a hidden door. "For right now I have the password set to 'unity' but you are free to change it whenever you please, You will just have to inform your heads of house what the new password is." Dumbledore said leading the three children into the room so that they could have a look around.

Harry gave one look to his two bonded mates before ducking into the room first. He stopped just inside the common room moving out of the way from the door so Blaise and Draco could come in as well. Looking around the room the first thing he noticed was how it looked to be a fairly good combination of the Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms. There was a nice shag rug right in front of the fire place, there was a settee and two chairs, all the furniture looked to be made out of a nice redwood, but the cushions and seats themselves looked to be made out of leather. There was a table off in the corner where someone could study if they wanted. Straight ahead from the entrance door was a small hallway, looking down it Harry could see there were three doors down there. He was moving to take a look and investigate what they were when Draco spoke up.

"We will have to do something about the furniture, but it will do for now I suppose." Harry turned around to look at the blond boy. "What Potter?"

"I was just curious, what's wrong with this furniture?" Harry tilted his head slightly. He thought the furniture looked fine, though he was never very fond of leather.

"Clearly you have never decorated a room in your life." Draco sighed and Harry wondered if he had meant to sound that dramatic about it. He bit his tongue however and turned his attention back to the hallway.

"I shall leave you boys to it then." Dumbledore excused himself closing the door behind him as he left.

"I will admit though considering the disaster of his office, he's not as bad as decorating as I originally thought." Draco smirked setting his bag down on the table and went down the hallway behind Harry to see their rooms. There were three doorways down the hall, one straight ahead and then one on either side of the hallway. Harry stopped looking between the doors before he picked the one on the right. Upon opening it he knew instantly that this was not his room. If the Slytherin colors weren't enough of a giveaway, there were two beds in this room, two desks, and a window that Harry wondered what the view was like from. He probably would have gone over and looked for himself if Draco wasn't right behind him.

"You're in the way potter." Harry moved out of the way quickly allowing Draco to come into the room and remove his cloak he walked over to the wardrobe to hang it up, giving Harry his first glimpse at Draco Malfoy's wardrobe. He could tell that the wardrobe was definitely bigger on the inside and Draco had more clothes than Harry had probably ever owned in his whole life, was it really necessary for someone to own that many clothes?

"Something wrong Potter?" Draco asked catching Harry's attention.

"No. I was just thinking."

"Well do it in your own room." Came the reply snap as Draco slammed his wardrobe shut. Harry backed out of the room and almost right into Blaise, but the Italian moved out of the way before Harry could. "If you need anything Potter, if it's nothing magic related call a house elf," Blaise hadn't really meant for the words to sound as harsh as they did and only briefly caught the flicker of emotion that crossed Harry's face. Without a word Harry gave him a stiff nod then ducked into his own room closing and locking the door behind him. Harry leaned back against the door looking around his own room. He dimly noticed that his room was a lot smaller than the other one, but of course it made sense. His room had a single bed, and a desk. He had a wardrobe against the wall on the other side of the bed and two windows letting in a little more light. But the room felt empty. Slowly sliding down the door until he was sitting on the floor Harry took in the small room. Not able to help himself he compared it to Dudley's second bedroom, this room was bigger than that, but it was still as empty and bare as that room. Since the first time Harry Potter had come to Hogwarts, he was alone. 'As it should be.' Harry heard a voice whisper in the back of his head. He ignored it as the last bit of sunlight left his room and the shadows took over. He lost himself in the silence of that room, he was far too tired right now to truly care about anything. He tried telling himself that tomorrow would be better. He would wake up tomorrow and he would find out that today had been nothing but a dream. Not having the energy to move from his spot on the floor Harry slipped into an uneasy sleep.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

A special thanks to Hannah who did the beta reading for me on this.

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 3

The morning light crept into the room making Harry roll over trying to remain asleep for just a little while longer. It was as Harry rolled over that he noticed that he was still on the floor where he had sat down the night before. He let out a small groan as he tried to sit up. Looking around the room like he had last night and making a mental note that next time he should try and make it to the bed before sitting down. Harry stretched trying to work out some of the stiffness when there was a knock on the door.

"...what?" Came his tired reply.

"Potter if you don't get up now Blaise and I are leaving without you, and we will not be held responsible for you being late to class." Harry groaned, it was far too early in the morning to be listening to Draco. Pulling himself slowly to his feet he unlocked his door and opened it. Draco's hand was raised ready to knock on the door again, but upon it being opened he let it drop slowly to his side while he took in Harry's morning appearance. "Please tell me you did not sleep in your clothes Potter." Draco sneered giving his outfit a disgusted look. Harry looked down at his clothes wrinkled and less than perfect after being slept in. He shrugged it off easily, it wasn't like he hadn't slept in his clothes before. It didn't really bother him, but the look Draco was giving him was slightly amusing, so Harry decided to have a bit of fun.

"I slept on the floor too." He admitted and had to hold back a small laugh at the look or horror that Draco gave him. The blond was trying to think of something that he could say in response, but clearly couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that someone could have willingly slept on the floor.

"Potter, you should get in the shower and get ready for classes. We let you lie in because we knew you needed the rest. If I had known you were sleeping on the floor I would have woken you up sooner." Blaise said as he came out of his and Draco's room fixing his tie.

"Does it really matter to you if I sleep on the floor or not?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow at him. Why would either of them really care where he slept, or what he slept in. It wasn't like he was planning on waring these close two days in a row. Though he might consider it, because it would certainly make Draco cringe a bit more. Blaise looked at Harry curiously as Draco stuck his nose in the air slightly.

"It's none of my business if you want to sleep on the floor like an animal. But if you plan on eating this morning, you have ten minutes to shower and get dressed." Draco turned and went down the hallway to the common room. "Then I just won't eat!" Harry called after him turning back into his room to grab his things for the day. He could be in and out of the shower in ten minutes, he had perfected the art of quick showers. Grabbing a change of clothes, and shoving his school books he would need in his bag he left the bag by his door and went to go shower and change, he stopped when he saw Blaise was still in the hallway watching him with the same curious expression present on his face.

"Blaise, we're going to be late." Draco called from the common room. "I'll leave without you!" He threatened. Harry glanced in the direction of Draco's voice.

"The prince is calling." He said looking back at Blaise.

"Potter, make sure you get something to eat this morning." Was Blaise's parting comment. Harry blinked after him shaking his head. Why would Blaise care if Harry ate or not? No one had ever really bothered to notice Harry's eating habits before. Well, maybe Hermione had, but she had never said anything. Holding his change of clothes Harry went to the bathroom for his shower.

Blaise and Draco went to the great hall for breakfast, Draco was happy to see that Severus was back. Giving a small smile to his Godfather he sat down near the end of the table with Blaise. "Professor Snape looks a little tired this morning. Think he'll still have class today?"

"If he's in the school then he'll have class." Draco dished himself up a decent size portion of food, as did Blaise. They were mostly quiet as they ate, both of them deep in thought about current events. Draco was worried about Severus, and why he had been called to see Voldemort so suddenly. He wondered if his mother and Father had also been called, or if it was just Severus. Draco was also worried about whether or not he would be going home for the winter holidays, since it was already November now he would have to start thinking about it. He wondered if he could skip out on going home and stay with Severus, but then again Severus usually came over for Christmas dinner during the holidays anyway.

"Blaise, would you be coming home with me if I decided not to stay here during Christmas?" Draco asked earning himself a slightly surprised look from Blaise.

'You're actually considering going home?" Blaise frowned thinking this over as he grabbed a piece of toast. "I don't know if that would be a good idea Draco, I mean, you can go home if you want. But I don't know if I would be able to join you."

"Why not?" Draco asked, though knew the answer should have been obvious.

"Potter. One of us should stay here and keep an eye on him. I highly doubt we'd be able to take him to your house. You-know-who, would be there within five minutes of us arriving." Blaise pointed out watching as Draco looked as if he were going to start sulking.

"I really do dislike this. I'm going to ask Professor Snape after class if he has some books on bonding. I think it would be best if we really did start looking as soon as possible to break this thing." Draco stabbed a peace of his sausage a little more violently then he had meant to.

"Draco, I know we should look up what kind of thing this is, and what we've been dragged into with Potter. But I think perhaps we should think about breaking it later. If we break it now we're not guaranteed the protection we need. Let's at least wait until we're out of school to break it." Blaise knew that Draco wouldn't want to wait that long. Being tied to Potter for that long would not be easy.

"You're only saying that because of the bonding." Draco glared. "That is the only reason either of us have any feelings towards that...that..." Draco found he couldn't even think of a good insult to call Potter right now. He could feel the bond, just as much as Blaise could, and Harry could probably feel it as well. But Draco would not let it control him. He refused to act on any new feelings he had for Harry, knowing for a fact that he really truly hated the other boy.

"Draco, I just think it would be a good idea to keep this security we have right now. I know I don't give a damn about Potter, same as you. The added bonus of having protection and the fact that we get our own rooms. That stops once we break the bond." Blaise gave him a sly smirk and Draco stared at him a light blush on his cheeks.

"You are horrible." Draco turned back to his food. "We won't break the bond, but I still think we should find out what it is. You know as well as I do that it's not a normal bond." Draco just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about the bond that they should know. What that was however he had absolutely no clue.

"We'll do some research this weekend then, you just get the books from Professor Snape, or find out where you can get them." Blaise took his eggs and sausage making himself a quick sandwich and standing up.

"Do you ever eat anything other than sandwiches?" Draco asked eyeing the food Blaise was preparing to take with him.

"Well, you can put anything on a sandwich, and then you can take it with you. It's a good way not to be late for our first class." Blaise glanced over at the Gryffindor table to see if Harry was still sitting there.

"Potter didn't come in here at all." Draco finished a few more bites of his own food. "It's going to be a real problem for us if he tries to starve himself to death. We'll drag him here for lunch, even if he has to sit at our table." Draco frowned at what he had just said, he thought it was a good idea, but he also knew that by doing that they would be announcing to the whole school that there was some sort of relationship between the three of them now. "On second thought maybe we'll just order lunch in our rooms and make Potter eat there."

"If you think that will stop the rumors," Blaise laughed though stopped when he heard a voice that he would not miss, and he was sure that Draco would agree to stay bonded to Harry for life it meant that it kept that girl away.

'Draco! There you are! I was so worried about you when you and Blaise didn't come back last night. I tried to ask Professor Snape where you were, but he wasn't in either. I thought maybe you had been called home for something. But then I was told all your things were gone." Pansy had latched herself onto Draco's arm as the blond boy stood up and was now trying to pull his arm free from her.

"Blaise and I have moved into our own rooms." Draco announced catching the attention of a few more people at the table, who had obviously been curious, but none of them as daring as Pansy was when it came to asking Draco about it.

"And before you ask, no you are not invited.' Blaise wrapped his arms around Draco's shoulders. "Draco and I decided that we needed a bit more privacy. It's kind of hard to get that when you share a room with three other boys." Blaise smirked at the way Pansy's face turned bright red as she seemed to come to her own conclusions as to why Blaise and Draco would need their own rooms.

"Pansy, give it up already." Theodore Nott chuckled as he came to stand next to her. He looked at Blaise. "Though I am curious if that is the only reason you two moved into your own rooms. I heard some interesting news that Harry Potter has also moved out of Gryffindor."

"You want to ask something, so I'll just answer you before you do. Yes, Harry Potter is also sharing the same space with us, though he did get his own room. I'm almost a little jealous really." Blaise smirked his arms still wrapped around Draco who was leaning back against him slightly.

"Well that is some interesting news. Any reason why?" Theodore asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not a clue really, it has something to do with what happened on Halloween though. Since you and Pansy seem to be the best people in collecting and starting rumors, if you hear anything I'd love to know.' Blaise kept one arm around Draco's shoulders as he stood up strait steering him around Pansy and Theodore so they could get to their first class.

"You do know the whole school will be talking about this now." Draco complained.

"Oh shut up, you love the attention." Blaise teased stealing a kiss from Draco once they were out of the Great Hall and there weren't so many people watching them. "I think whether or not Potter comes with us to the rooms, we will be eating lunch there anyway."

Harry hurried down the hall as fast as he could, trying to fix his robes as he ran. He hadn't quite realized how far his new rooms were from his Charms class. First day back in class since Halloween and he was going to get detention for being late. Though Harry supposed it was better to be late for Charms then it would be if it were potions. Snape was probably already upset with Harry for skipping a weeks' worth of classes already, not to mention keeping his favorite student out of class as well. Harry came to a stop outside the door to Charms and opened the door a quietly as he could. He could hear Professor Flitwick already talking but stopped when he saw the door open. This caught everyone's attention, and Harry found everyone in the room watching him as he stepped into the classroom keeping his head down slightly.

"I'm sorry I'm late Professor." He said, hating the fact that everyone was watching him.

"I was unsure if you would be joining us today Mr. Potter, it's good to see you are feeling better, please take your seat." Flitwick said waiting as Harry gave a single nod, before he continued his lecture about the charm they would be learning that day. Harry went over to his usual seat next to Ron and Hermione giving them both a small smile as he sat down. Hermione however was the only one to smile back. Ron gave him a look that proved to Harry that Ron really was not happy with him. Harry sat down on the other side of Hermione and looked over at Ron wondering if he could catch his attention.

"Here Harry, I took some notes for you. I didn't know if you were going to be in class either." Hermione said handing him a copy of the notes she had taken so far. "We're just reviewing today I think." Harry gave her a grateful smile. The fact that at least she was still talking to him made him feel a bit better. Made him feel not so cut off from everyone. But it didn't stop him from trying to get Ron's attention through the rest of class. When Flitwick gave them their homework for that night, Ron grabbed his bag and left the room. Harry looked after him, he quickly shoved everything he had into his bag and stood up to follow Ron.

"Harry, I really don't think..." Hermione had tried to talk to him. But Harry really wanted to know if Ron was alright. He just HAD to talk to him. They had fought for most of last year during school and Harry hated it. This year everyone had been against him for saying that Voldemort was back, saying that he had been the one to kill Cedric, then there was what happened in the great hall during Halloween.

"Ron! Ron wait up." Harry called after seeing the familiar flash of red hair turn the corner. Harry sped up chasing after his best friend. When he rounded the corner he felt arms grab him dragging him into an un-used classroom. A strong hand clamped over his mouth as he struggled against whoever was holding him.

"Why are you following me?" Ron asked stopping Harry's struggles. "Attacking me once wasn't enough?" Ron walked over looking at Harry. The hand was removed from Harry's mouth, he looked at the two who were holding him. Seamus and Dean. Looking back at Ron with wide eyes he tried to find the words, to explain things to Ron.

"Ron...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. My magic, there's something wrong with it." He tried to explain, but he had never seen Ron look at him with such hate before. Not even last year when he had thought that Harry had put his name in the goblet.

"Shut up!" Ron snapped. 'Stop lying, everything that ever comes out of your mouth is a LIE!" Ron yelled. "I can't believe I was so stupid that I ever listened to you." Ron glared at him. "What? Did you think I wouldn't find out? Think I was too stupid? Why Harry, why did you do it?" Ron's fists were clenched by his side and Harry got the feeling it was taking what little restraint his friend had to keep from punching Harry.

"Do you really expect him to tell the truth Ron?" Dean asked. "I mean really, he's been lying all this time. He probably believes the lies himself by now."

"I've never lied to you." Harry said shrinking back slightly from the look Ron gave him. "I swear I've never lied to you! I'm sorry for what happened at Halloween, I don't even remember what happened. I was just so angry, I couldn't control it, my magic. It just got out of control, but I didn't mean to hurt you!" Harry said quickly.

"I don't care about what happened on Halloween." Ron snapped. This confused Harry even more, if Ron wasn't upset about what happened on Halloween, then why was he so mad with him? What had he done that got his best friend so upset? "Halloween just opened my eyes to what you really are. I want to know why you killed Cedric." Ron growled. "Why are you lying about You-Know-Who being back?"

"What...Ron I'm not lying! Why would I lie about something like THAT!?" Harry yelled.

"It all makes sense now." Ron continued ignoring Harry. "You were the only one there, and Cedric was in the way so you killed him. So you tell Dumbledore that You-Know-Who is back and while everyone is busy looking for someone who is DEAD, you are able to kill people, blaming it on whatever is convenient at the time. You couldn't control your magic on Halloween? I don't believe you, and why is it that you let Malfoy into your shield but no one else? His father is a death eater, is he the one who taught you how to kill someone and make it look like an accident?" Harry could only stare at Ron like he had completely lost his mind. Where was Ron getting these ridiculous ideas? Were those really the rumors going around the school? Did people really believe this could really be true, that he could actually do this?

"Ron, I don't understand. I really don't! I didn't kill Cedric, Voldemort did! My magic...I can't control it very well right now. There is something wrong with it. Draco he's...he and Blaise are helping me right now." Harry knew that that had been the wrong thing to say as soon as the words had left his mouth. Ron's fist had swung out hitting Harry in the head making his glasses fly off.

"So he's 'Draco' now? When the bloody hell did that happen!?" Ron yelled ready to swing and punch again.

"I...Halloween, or when I woke up in the hospital wing...I don't know. I try to call him Malfoy...but he, he's different now. Well no he's not. I can't explain it like this!" Harry pulled at his arms trying to get away from Seamus and Dean who had been mostly quiet until now. They held Harry tighter.

"So you're Slytherin now?" Seamus asked. "I knew there was something off about you Potter. No one has that much bad luck." Seamus looked at Ron and nodded. Another fist swung towards Harry hitting him in the stomach this time knocking all the air out of him. Harry felt his magic flaring up against his attackers, he tried desperately to hold onto it, keep it under control. Another punch and Harry cried out, not from the punches, though they did hurt, Dudley's punches hurt a lot worse than Ron's did since Ron didn't have as much weight to throw into them. He felt like he was burning up trying to hold onto his magic, keeping it inside him so it wouldn't hurt the people he had thought of as friends.

"Ron, stop! Please listen!" Harry yelled trying to make Ron listen even for just a minute. But as the punches continued Harry found it difficult to hold onto his magic any more. It hurt too much. He screamed the raw magic bursting out from him sending Ron, Seamus and Dean flying to the opposite side of the room. Forcing his eyes open Harry saw the blurry outlines of all three boys. Not waiting to see if they were still awake and would continue their attack Harry stumbled to his feet running back out into the corridor, his stomach hurt from where Ron had hit him and his head was pounding. And he was hot. Stumbling down the corridor the other students whispered and moved out of the way as Harry walked past but he ignored them. He knew that he should go to the hospital wing, but that's not where his feet were taking him, because his instincts knew that there was nothing Madam Pomfrey could do about the burning under his skin. He continued walking leaning against the wall for support and hoping that the cold stones would stop the burning. Only stopping when there was someone in his way. Looking up slowly he saw the blurred outline of Blaise.

"You really can't go a single day without getting into trouble can you Harry?" Blaise asked blinking when Harry practically fell into his arms. He concentrated on Harry's magic soothing it. This is how Draco found them when he walked around the corner having run out of class right along with Blaise. Though he had at least stayed the extra minute it took to explain to the teacher why they were suddenly leaving.

"What the hell happened this time?" Draco asked standing next to Blaise though he looked at Harry who had his face buried in Blaise's robes.

"Let's get him back to our rooms and ask him somewhere less public." Blaise started to pull away from Harry but stopped when Harry's hands tightened in his shirt. The small body was shaking against him, though Harry's magic was fine now. He glanced at Draco.

"Come on Potter, you may enjoy being a side show in the hallway but I do not." Draco snapped. This got Harry moving, though slowly. He let go of Blaise and glanced around, not looking either boy in the eye.

"Sorry. I'm fine now. I should get to my next class." Harry said looking around he realized he didn't have his bag with him, and if he wanted his glasses he'd have to go back to that room where he'd left Ron, Dean and Seamus. His head snapped up and he looked at Blaise again. "My magic! It attacked Ron again...He...he's in a class room back that way!" Harry was about to turn around to make his way back to the class room when Blaise stopped him.

"Draco, take him down to our rooms. I'll be there shortly." Blaise gave no room for argument as he handed Harry off to Draco and walked down the hallway. Draco growled softly.

"Come on Potter, let's go before you cause any more trouble for me." Draco said grabbing Harry by the arm leading him back down to their rooms. Harry followed with little protest, sensing that Draco was upset with him.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

A special thanks to Hannah who did the beta reading for me on this.

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 4

Harry sat on the couch in the common room staring over towards the empty fire place. His mind racing with what Ron had said to him. Still not really able to wrap his mind around the fact that Ron believed Harry had killed someone, well that part wasn't so unbelievable, since Harry had killed people before. It was something he didn't like thinking about. But he didn't kill Cedric. He had to ignore the voice in the back of his mind that told him that he did kill Cedric, if Cedric hadn't been in the graveyard with him then he would still be alive today. Harry knew that, he still had nightmares about it.

Draco sat in a chair glaring at the door, clearly unhappy with the fact that Blaise sent him back here with Potter. He refused to look at Harry right now, because every time he did he could feel the bond pulling him towards the other boy. Telling him that there was something wrong. Draco stubbornly sat where he was though, telling himself that Harry wouldn't want Draco near him right now.

It was nearly twenty minutes before the door opened, Blaise came in first followed by Dumbledore, and Professor Snape. Draco stood up going over to meet Blaise when he caught site of someone trailing in after Professor Snape. "What are you doing here?" Draco snapped glaring at the bushy haired girl who glared right back at him.

"I was worried about Harry." Hermione said then proceeded to ignore him. Blaise wrapped his arms around Draco's waist stopping him from making any comments back right now. He watched Hermione walk over to the couch, Harry didn't look at her. Didn't even seem to register that other people had come into the room.

"Harry?" Dumbledore had come around to stand in front of Harry catching his attention. He handed Harry his glasses. "I believe these may help." He smiled as Harry took the glasses, making no comment on the trembling hands that took them and slid them on. Blinking a few times as his eyes re-adjusted Harry looked up at Dumbledore, glancing towards Snape, then Hermione who gave him a small smile. He returned it like he had in class then looked back at Dumbledore.

"I'm sorry sir." Harry said.

"My dear boy, why are you sorry?" Dumbledore asked.

"For causing more trouble. I am trying to keep my magic under control, it's just...it's never been this hard before." Harry explained turning his attention back to the fire place.

"Harry, there isn't much we can do about that right now. You're just going to have to rely on Mr. Zabini and Mr. Malfoy to help with your magic until it is more stable. I believe some of the blame for this should also fall on me, I hadn't realized your magic was this wild. I think it might be best if we kept you out of classes for a while." Dumbledore watched as Harry seemed to sink further into the couch. "I will be setting up lessons with you privately so you don't fall behind. In a few weeks we will see if your magic has stabilized enough for you to return to classes." He explained, it made him feel bad for cutting Harry off from everyone in school like this.

"Sir...How are Ron, Dean and Seamus?" Harry asked. Dumbledore sighed, the topic he had hoped to avoid for a while.

"They will be alright in a day or two. Poppy took care of their injuries. I really should be asking what happened, but I think you should get some more rest. Ms. Granger, is also here to see you. And I would suggest you let Professor Snape run a quick scan so that we can see what is going on with your magic." Dumbledore looked over at Snape who had kept quiet this whole time just watching the boy on the couch. Harry didn't say anything, and didn't move.

"You will have to take this boy." Snape said, Harry looked up at him then looked at the potion he was being handed. Letting out a small sigh he uncurled himself from the couch and took the potion looking at it. "Just drink it, it will make your magical signature visible for a short while." Snape explained.

"Do we have to do this now?" Harry asked looking at Dumbledore. He really was tired after the outburst with Ron, and he felt like he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts for a while.

"Yes Harry, I believe it is best if we do this now." Dumbledore smiled at him. Letting out another small sigh Harry opened the bottle and drank it shuddering from the taste. If he just did as he was told for a little while then maybe he could go curl up in bed for the rest of the day. The effect of the potion took a moment to start working. But a small gasp from Hermione had him looking over at her. She however was not looking at him but somewhere behind him. Turning slightly in his seat he looked over the couch blinking when he saw both Draco and Blaise wrapped up in a strange gold light, following the trail of light he saw that it lead right to him. Upon inspecting his hands he saw that he too was wrapped in the gold light, though it seemed to be brighter around him.

"...this is what my magic looks like?" Harry asked inspecting his hands and arms more.

"Yes, it's calm right now." Snape said as he took a step closer to Harry taking out his wand, Harry's magic seemed to flare up around him going off in different directions for a moment, though nothing happened. Snape smirked at him. "Worried I'm going to do something to you?"

"No, I'm just not fond of having a wand pointed at me when I can't point my own back.' Harry said simply.

"I am going to scan your magical levels. This will give us a read out of what affect your depleted magic is having on your body." Snape waved his wand taking out a peace of parchment and watching as the scan appeared on the parchment. Snape looked it over making a copy of it before putting it in his pocket. "I will send this copy to Madame Pomfrey." Snape said looking over at Dumbledore.

"Very well Severus, thank you. Before you go." Dumbledore looked at Harry. "Harry, Professor Snape has agreed to give you private lessons. It will be a summary of Potions until you are able to return to normal classes, you will attend these lessons twice a week between his other classes. I will also be setting up similar classes like this with all your other teachers. Ms. Granger, I believe you will be willing to help Harry stay caught up as well?" Dumbledore asked his eyes twinkling slightly.

"Yes sir." She said quickly. Dumbledore nodded his approval.

"Sir…what happens if my magic… what if I can't get control of it?" Harry asked.

"That is something we will deal with if it becomes a problem Harry. But there has never been a wizard that hasn't learnt how to control his magic." He smiled. "Now get some rest my boy." He put his hand on Harry's head as he passed. Snape followed him out pausing to briefly talk to Draco at the door then left with the headmaster.

"Well? Aren't you leaving too mudblood?" Draco asked standing there with the door open waiting for Hermione to leave as well. But she didn't even look in Draco's direction, instead she moved closer to Harry.

"Harry?" She asked softly. Harry looked up at her with a blank stare. It was a look Hermione had seen many times, and a look she hated seeing on him. Hermione being the kind of girl she was loved to study, not just books. But she studied people as well. She had gotten quite good at it, though with Harry he was always a puzzle to her. And then she had found out why. Why he sometimes got that blank stare. It was because he truly didn't know how to react. How he should react. She sat down on the couch and wrapped her arms tightly around Harry letting him rest his head on her shoulder. She could feel him shaking. Pulling out her wand she shot flames into the fire place and just held Harry.

Draco slammed the door shut when Hermione ignored him. He watched her with Harry before looking over at Blaise to see what his reaction was to all of this. Blaise didn't look happy to have Hermione in here either, but he seemed inclined to just let it slide for now.

"There's something wrong with him Draco." Blaise whispered.

"You say that like I actually care." Draco snapped a little louder than he had meant to, but decided that he didn't care about that either. "He gets too much attention as it is. I will not have him inviting his little 'fan club' in here." Movement on the couch caught his attention, he turned back to Hermione who was guiding Harry to his feet.

"Where is your room Harry?" She asked softly. Harry pointed towards the hall. Hermione started guiding him in that direction.

"Where in Merlin's name do you think you're going?" Draco snapped his hand gripping his wand. Hermione turned to face him.

"If you're going to stand there and start talking shit about Harry, then we're going to at least go to his room where he doesn't have to listen to you." Hermione's hand was on her own wand. Sensing if he didn't do something soon then there would be a bigger fight Harry stepped in front of Hermione, his back towards Draco.

"Please Hermione...it's okay." Harry said. "Just, let me talk to them for a minute." Hermione looked at him. "This is their room too. It's not really fair that you're here and we haven't even talked about if it would be alright for friends to come into our rooms like this." Harry explained.

"I really don't care." Blaise said. "I do however agree with Draco that I don't want you bringing your whole fan club in here Potter." Harry turned looking at them with the same blank look he had given Hermione a few moments ago.

"Hermione is the only one who's going to be coming in here...if she still wants to after I talk to her." Harry looked down slightly as he said this. "You won't even know if I have anyone over, we'll stay in my room." Harry felt Hermione put a hand on his arm.

"Just, leave us alone and we'll leave you alone." Hermione finished, not giving Blaise or Draco any time to reply before she pulled Harry down the hall and into the room he pointed out as his own. Closing the door she put up a locking, and silencing charms before turning to Harry. He watched her silently bracing himself for what he knew she was going to do. She pulled him into a tight hug. He was hesitant to respond to it but he eventually did. His whole body shook, though he didn't cry. He never did. He had learnt very early in life that it was pointless to cry. He was stronger than some people ever gave him credit for, he took everything thrown at him, from his home life, to the wizarding world changing their opinion of him every time there was a new Daily Prophet in print. He could even deal with Ron's sudden change of heart. It hurt, but he kept it to himself like he always did. However, he was gladder then he could even say that Hermione was still there for him. Because she had been like a sister to him since second year.

"Harry, you need to tell me what's going on." Hermione said after a few minutes of just hugging him. She felt him nod against her shoulder before pulling back to go sit on his bed, he watched the floor as he spoke telling her everything that had been happening. He told her about the bond he now had with Blaise and Draco, told her about his magic and that it was apparently unstable.

With some good guesses and yes and no questions Hermione got the story out of him of what happened with Ron. Though he didn't go into details about what Ron had said. Telling Hermione that Ron believed the rumors that were going around was enough to know where Ron now stood. And like always, whatever Harry told her here in the silent safe area they had, stayed there. Hermione was not allowed to tell any teacher, or allowed to confront Ron about what had happened. It had been the deal Harry had made with her. She would be the first one he would talk to about things that were bothering him, or if things with the Dursley's ever went too far he would go to her before Ron, or even Sirius. But in return for him trusting her, she was not allowed to tell anyone about anything unless it was life threatening.

Draco was ready to go after Hermione and Harry and force her to leave. If Harry wanted to play with his little friends he wouldn't do it here. Blaise however stopped him.

"Just let them be for now." Blaise looked and sounded very serious, though Draco was still very unhappy about it he turned and sat down on the couch that Harry had vacated.

"So I guess we're skipping out on classes again today?" Draco looked at Blaise when the other boy sat next to him.

"I think it would be a good idea. Potter's magic it's still very unstable." Blaise looked at Draco. "You can't feel that though, can you?" He asked. Draco shook his head.

"No, I'm not all that sure about what I'm feeling, but I believe it may be his emotions? Potter really is screwed up." Draco frowned. "I would love to know what happened between this morning and now."

"Only Potter can give us all the details, but it doesn't take a genius to put two and two together. His magic didn't just attack Weasley, but Finnigan and Thomas as well. From what I can guess, the three of them cornered Potter, did or said something that got to him, making his magic lash out. Though it's very strange, even with damage done to his magical core, and the explanation Dumbledore gave us, about Potter's magic simply being too much for him to control on his own, it doesn't make sense. Why is his magic acting out like this? If he truly had no control over it I would have to be with him 24/7 to help keep it under control." Blaise leaned back on the couch frowning until Draco shifted closer to him.

"You know, this whole thing is annoying. I don't understand why Potter can't just do things the normal way for once." Draco sighed. Blaise grinned at him and with a startled yelp that Draco would later deny came from him, Blaise had Draco pinned to the couch.

"Then let's find something less annoying to talk about." Blaise leaned down capturing Draco's lips keeping him pinned to the couch. Draco hated being pinned down, Draco liked being in control, and Blaise knew it. He didn't always enjoy being the one in control, but he liked taking it away from Draco. Keeping Draco's hands pinned, Blaise ran his tongue across Draco's lips trying to deepen the kiss. His reward for this was a sharp bite to the lip. He pulled back licking his lips trying to see if Draco had broken skin this time.

"As much fun as this is Blaise, I don't wish for that mudblood to come out and see us in this position." Draco said making Blaise laugh and sit up.

"Fine, fine. Though all this time and I never knew you were shy." Blaise sat back on the couch, but pulled Draco back up making the blond boy straddle his lap. Draco smirked now that he was the one on top of Blaise.

"I'm not shy, I just don't want her seeing it. Quite frankly I wouldn't want Potter to see us like that either. His emotions are so crazy it's a little frightening."

"What do you mean? Potter has just enough emotion to be considered human." Blaise said.

"If what I am feeling from him is his emotions then he does a very good job at hiding how messed up his head is." Draco settled down resting his head on Blaise's shoulder. "I'm done talking about Potter right now. I really need to think about sending a letter to my parents. I know mother will be upset if I don't go back for Christmas." Draco said feeling Blaise tense slightly under him. "I know you can't come with me." He continued. "But, could you consider at least coming for Christmas dinner?"

"You make it sound like you've decided to go back during the holidays after all." Blaise wrapped his arms around Draco holding him close. "Draco, what if your father..." He trailed off, he hated thinking about the fact that Lucius Malfoy was a death eater. One who took pride in the fact of following the Dark Lord. And Draco should want the same. Lucius wasn't truly a bad father, Blaise had seen much worse before. But he wasn't very nice either when Draco refused to do something Lucius had told him to do. Getting the dark mark was one of them.

"Have you thought about what might happen if you go back?" Blaise asked. Draco nodded against his shoulder.

"I have, but there's no way I can take the mark. Even if my father and I fight about it again, he wouldn't do that to me over the winter holidays. No, he'll wait for summer before forcing me to make a decision, and then have to drag me all the way to the Dark Lord to make sure I make what he considers the right decision." Draco closed his eyes. "I'm not going to do it though. So you don't have to worry about that Blaise, but can you please just consider coming for Christmas dinner? I know mother would love to have you over."

"Your mother is nice enough. It's your father I can't stand. But, I'll put some serious thought into it Draco, I promise." Blaise held Draco a little tighter. He truly was terrified that one of these days Lucius Malfoy would force Draco to take the Dark mark. Blaise had made himself a promise, that when that day came, he didn't care how much Draco loved his father and wanted to please the man. Blaise would kill Lucius if he ever hurt Draco like that.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair feeling more tired than he had felt in a long time. He wished he could understand why everything happened to poor Harry. All his efforts to protect the boy, and somehow people always made it past him. He was determined this time to make sure that Harry was safe. Even if that meant keeping the nature of the bond to himself. He was sure that even if Harry didn't start looking up on the kind of bond he now shared with Malfoy and Zabini, then Granger would. She would also find a way to break it. And that wouldn't do anyone any good. He looked across from him where Snape sat, also looking quite tired.

"It appears that it has been a long day for you, Severus." Dumbledore smiled his eyes twinkling slightly.

"You know what kind of night I had sir." Snape said shortly. "The Dark Lord does not know of the bond between Potter, Malfoy and Zabini. But he does know something is different. I have been ordered to start giving the boy a potion that will weaken his mind." Snape said.

"Yes, yes I know. I fear the only option we have at the moment is to start giving him the potion. Voldemort will not reach him here at school so there is little we have to worry about that for right now. I think, maybe if you were to teach the boy Occlumency."

"I could do that, and it may help deflect some of the damage the potion will do. But I don't think you understand what this potion will do. Though very unlikely considering his already poor lack of concentration, he could become very skilled at Occlumency and the potion would still rip away at that leaving his mind wide open for anyone to look at. And to my knowledge there is no way to reverse the effects of this potion." Snape explained. Dumbledore nodded as if he understood what Snape was telling him.

"If you don't give him at least a few doses of the potion, Voldemort will know. You are too valuable of a spy, Severus, if you are discovered all the work we are doing will be as good as lost." Dumbledore sighed. "Buy a little bit of time, obviously the dark lord wants you to brew the potion yourself."

"He does, and it will take two months to make correctly. I will be brewing the potion, but I will insist that you think of something else to do, other than give it to Potter." Snape stood up after he said this.

"My dear boy, it sounds almost as if you care for Harry a little bit." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling again.

"Do not misunderstand me sir, I still care nothing for the boy. But this potion is highly dangerous to someone in his current state. There is no telling what effect it will have on his mind and magic. If it comes down to it I would rather just inform the Dark Lord about the bond Potter now shares." Snape spun around and left the office leaving Dumbledore to think things over more.

Dumbledore had no doubt that Snape would go right to Voldemort and tell him about the bond, not to save Harry of course, but to make sure no harm came to his godson. Dumbledore closed his eyes, he would have to make sure that the bond wasn't broken between the three of them, it really was the only way to do things right now. He took a peace of parchment and wrote down the names of a few books he knew that were in the library. Calling a house elf, he handed the parchment over to the elf.

"I wish you to retrieve these books from the library for me." The elf bowed and vanished. Harry needed more protection than Dumbledore could give him, and Mr. Malfoy would be a very good asset to their side in the war. It was really in everyone's best interest that he keep them in this bond for as long as possible.

Harry rolled over on his bed feeling the last bit of sleep leave him. Slowly opening his eyes he blinked a few times before sitting up.

"Hermione...?" He asked looking around the room he found his glasses on his bed side table, and a note right next to them. Putting the glasses on he picked up the note.

I let you sleep because you really looked like you needed it. I will be back later with dinner if I don't see you at the Great Hall.

Love Hermione.

Harry set the short note aside rubbing his eyes. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. But he had been tired. Checking the time, it was almost dinner time so he might as well go up to the Great Hall and meet Hermione there, since he was sure that Draco and Blaise wouldn't be letting her back in so easily.

Dragging himself out of bed he went out to the common room and saw it empty. Not that it surprised him, being close to dinner they had probably already left to go and get some food. The thought of eating made his stomach grumble in protest that he actually hadn't eaten anything that day. And hardly anything the day before. Opening the door before he changed his mind about going he stepped out and walked into a rather large body. Stumbling back he landed on his ass, blinking up as laughter met his ears.

"Graceful as always Potter." Draco said. Harry blinked at him then over at Blaise then at who he had walked into. It was Goyle. Standing next to him was Crabbe, there was also Parkinson, and Nott. Harry said nothing as he stood up brushing off his pants.

"You're in the way Potter." Pansy said laughing as Goyle shoved past Harry nearly knocking him over again as he went into the room Harry had just come out of. Harry moved out of the way as Crabbe, Pansy and Nott followed. Draco went in after all of them though Blaise stayed behind for a moment and just looked at Harry.

"What?" Harry finally asked.

"I am just seeing if your magic is stable. Also, try not to get into any trouble. Draco and I are having a study group and we would really rather not break it up early because you have another break down."

"I'm just going to get some dinner. I may just go right to the kitchens to do that." Harry said. Blaise gave him a nod saying nothing else he went into the room after the others.

You don't belong here. Harry shook his head ignoring that annoying voice that he swore was getting louder. He didn't need his own mind telling him things he already knew. He didn't belong here. He took a deep breath and went towards the Great Hall. He was beyond happy when he saw that Hermione was already on her way down to see him. It meant that he could avoid the Great Hall and everyone else for a while longer.

"Oh, Harry." Hermione smiled at him. "You look a little better."

"Just a little? Gee thanks, you're so nice." Harry teased back grinning at the look of shock and confusion Hermione gave him.

"Harry."

"Hermione, I'm fine. It was a rough few days and I needed some sleep. Now, I think I need some food and I plan on raiding the kitchen." He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. Hermione knew what he was doing, and went along with it for now. He wasn't fine, Harry was far from fine. But for right now he was, right now he needed to be fine or he would fall apart again. So he put on a smile and pushed everything out of his mind just focusing on the fact that he and Hermione were going to sneak dinner from the kitchens. Then she would drag him off and they would study and she would catch him up on his homework. For right now he was normal, and even the small voice in his head couldn't tell him differently.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 5

A/N :This chapter has not been beta read yet! I have gone over it myself and fixed a couple things here and there but my grammar sucks, and there is only so much spell check can do.

Harry sat in the back of the library doing what he had done all week, avoiding everyone. Mostly Blaise and Draco right now. It was the only thing he could think to do, it was either that or feel worse then he already did. He was also meeting up with Hermione, who had been helping him with his homework. Making sure he didn't fall to far behind in his classes. Though Harry mostly thought it was a lost cause by now, his magic was still unstable to the point where he didn't even want to try using it for simple spells, afraid that something would go wrong and he would hurt someone. Hermione of course told him he was being silly, but didn't push him to try any magic. He was glad for that, he knew that she was probably right and nothing bad would happen, but he had already lost Ron as a best friend because of his magic, he didn't want to risk loosing her as well.

Harry looked up from the book he was reading when Hermione sat down at the table looking upset. Harry bit his lower lip wondering if she was upset with something he had done, but when she leaned back in her chair and gave him a smile, forced though it was, he relaxed a little. "Sorry I'm late, Ron was pestering me to help him with his homework." She said. Harry blinked looking a little confused.

"Why don't you help him?" He asked, sure he and Ron weren't on the best of terms right now. But he was still hoping that Ron would come to his senses again like he had last year. So though Harry knew it was stupid he still considered Ron a friend. The look Hermione gave him had Harry shrinking back in his seat again.

"Harry, I found out what he said to you." She said simply. Harry felt his chest tighten as Ron's words came rushing back. He looked down at his book again.

"It's fine Hermione...he didn't really mean it, I mean it's just a stupid rumor. Everything will be back to normal by the time the school year is over. It always is." Harry said, his voice soft almost a whisper. Hermione sighed but let the subject go for now. She knew that Harry wouldn't say anything to anyone, and if she went to a teacher with it now, well Harry was stressed enough with his situation that he didn't need teachers asking him questions that he wasn't ready to answer.

"Harry look at me." She said waiting for him to lift his head slightly and smiled. "I won't tell anyone, like I promised. But it's my choice if I want to yell at Ron because he deserves it." She said. "I'm upset with him for my own reasons." Harry stared at her before nodding his head slowly.

"Alright then, have you eaten today? You look a bit pale." Hermione said changing the subject to something else that Harry didn't really want to talk about. Hermione had taken it upon her self to make sure Harry ate more then he had been. He had to actually stop and think about whether or not he had eaten anything that day. Harry knew he had skipped breakfast again, since Dumbledore hadn't worked out what his schedule was going to be with the teachers it gave Harry time to get a little more sleep in the mornings, since he wasn't sleeping well at night this past week. He obviously was taking to long to answer her question because she pulled some food wrapped in a cloth napkin out of her bag.

"I went to the kitchens and got this for you. Since I figured you hadn't eaten again today."

"It's not that I'm not eating Hermione, it's just that I haven't been all that hungry. Honestly, i've been more tired then hungry." Harry said this accepting the food. This caused Hermione to look a little more worried about him. She knew that Harry was prone to nightmares, she had seen them get rather violent a couple times to the point where she had learned how to make dreamless sleep potion so that she could give him some when he really needed it.

"Do you need some potion?" She asked, she always worried giving Harry the dreamless sleep potion, because a person could get addicted to the affects quite easily which wasn't healthy at all, but at the same time it wasn't healthy if that person was also skipping sleep in order to stay awake and not deal with whatever their dreams held for them.

"No...I think I should be fine." Harry gave her half a smile. He liked being able to sleep, but he didn'[t really like the affects of the potions, since it put him into a deeper sleep then he was used to, he would wake up disoriented and a couple times he had woken up and not known where he was. That had been scary, Hermione had forced some calming drought down his throat before he could think clearly enough to remember where he was and who was with him.

"If you're sure, just let me know if you need it okay?" Hermione pulled out some parchment from her bag setting them out on the table. Harry looked at them as he ate a peace of the chicken that Hermione had brought him.

"Have you found anything that will keep my magic from going crazy yet?" harry asked. He really wanted to be able to use his magic without Blaise having to calm him down every five minutes.

"I really don't know Harry. I've been thinking, that with this bond, maybe if you spoke to Malfoy and Zabini about it..." She trailed off, she hadn't been able to find out anything about the bond, but had read enough on her own to know that when someone's magic was the main focus of a bond there was sort of balance that had to be made between the people in the bond.

"Hermione, do you even hear yourself? In case you haven't really noticed I've spent the last week avoiding those two. I can't stand to be around them, I feel like i'm the only one being affected by this bond." Harry huffed.

"What do you mean?" Hermione hadn't really seen any chances in Draco or Blaise, but she was sure that a bond would have to have some sort of affect on them like it did on Harry. "What kind of affect is it having on you?"

"The most noticeable one? Well...I can't seem to make myself call them Malfoy and Zabini...it just sounds and feels weird when I call them that. So I always find myself calling them Draco and Blaise, if I ever do have to talk to or about them. But they still call me Potter..."

"how is that strange?" Hermione asked as she fished out a quill to write some stuff down.

"It's not really that strange. I mean, in some way I suppose it makes sense, but it's how I feel when they don't call me Harry...I KNOW I don't like them, and I know they don't like me. But I feel like I've done something wrong, that I've done something to upset them and I have to fix it before it gets worse." Harry had stopped eating pushing the food away as he thought about this. Hermione stopped writing as she looked at Harry, after hearing this, she could tell just how much this bond was affecting Harry. It wasn't just his mood, or his attitude towards Blaise and Draco. It was the knowing that Blaise and Draco didn't care for him, knowing that no matter what he did it wouldn't be good enough for them.

"Harry, I think we should try and talk to them." Hermione insisted. Harry shook his head.

"No Hermione, we shouldn't. It's best if I just try to avoid them, if I work on controlling my magic on my own then I don't have to rely on either of them to calm me down." Harry insisted. Hermione knew that she wouldn't be able to talk Harry out of his decision, so she would have to try and talk to Blaise and Draco on her own. Maybe she could make them see how they were affecting Harry, and if he was this bad when the bond was brand new, things could only get worse from here.

"That's why they're in this bond with you though, Harry. You need help with your magic, I'm going to help as much as I can. But I think the solution to this problem is the bond. It's there for a reason, your magic connected you with those two. I am still going to help you too, but I think we should start with researching this bond. Find out how it is affecting you, and how it affects those two."

"So that means we're going to have to talk to them." Harry said sinking down in his chair when Hermione nodded.

"Yes, we will have to talk to them. Come on, it's Friday why don't we go talk to them now? Or find out if we can meet up in Hogsmeed tomorrow." She suggested.

"I think you give them to much credit, I doubt they'll want to be seen in public with you." or me, Harry added silently to himself as he slowly stood up.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"If we go get them now, then you can talk to them before the others come to our rooms." Harry said gathering up his books pausing as he looked at his barely touched meal Hermione had brought him. He felt his stomach turn at the thought of eating any more, but he wrapped it up to take with him anyway.

* * S * *

Back in the rooms Blaise and Draco were working on their homework with Theo, and Pansy. Pansy because of her ever ending quest to become Draco's girlfriend, and Theo because he was interested in this new found relationship Blaise and Draco found themselves in with Harry Potter. Though Theo had not seen Harry Potter more then once the whole week and that had been when the other boy had been bolting from the room. Other then that one time Harry would either stay locked up in his room until they were gone, or he wouldn't come back to the rooms at all. So it was a little surprising to them all when the door opened and Harry came in, followed by Hermione.

"Potter, you're back early." Draco said only glancing up from his parchment.

"...yeah, um...Hermione and I were in the library-"

"Potter, I don't really care where you were, or who you were with. I was merely making an observation." Draco said looking back down at his homework. Blaise however did look up giving Draco a confused look then looked over at Harry, he knew that Harry had been avoiding the two of them since the beginning of the week, and he didn't really care as long as the other boy's magic staid in check. But seeing Harry in passing he had noticed him starting to look a little pale. And watching him now he had to wonder if Draco had something to do with that.

Pansy looked over at Harry and Hermione before turning her attention to Draco. "Really Draco, I can understand that there is obviously a good reason why Potter has to be here, but to allow that thing in here?" It was clear that by 'that thing' she was talking about Hermione.

"No one said you had to stay here, Parkinson." Harry snapped clenching his fists.

"I am a guest of Draco's, because he at least knows how to keep decent company." Pansy smirked at him.

"Decent company? Is that what they're calling it now? I thought someone who spread their legs to try and get attention was called something else entirely." Harry said catching everyone off guard. His face started turning bright red as a hand flew up to cover his mouth. He like everyone else couldn't believe what he had just said. Though it was fairly common knowledge that Pansy had been chasing Draco since before they even came to Hogwarts, and Harry was sure that most of the school thought that the two of them were together despite the obvious relationship between Blaise and Draco.

Draco was the first one to move, standing up he went over to Harry. Not sure what he intended to do, he just knew that he couldn't let Harry get away with talking like that to one of his friends. But as he lifted his hand to grab Harry, Hermione was suddenly in front of him with her wand out pointing right at him.

"If you hit him Malfoy I'll make sure you're never able to use that hand again!" Hermione glared at him silently daring him to make one more move. Draco glanced behind her at Potter who was shaking making it obvious to any who cared to really notice, the boy really did expect to be hit for his outburst.

"You really are pathetic Potter." Draco said lowering his hand. "What you said to Pansy was uncalled for." He ignored the fact that he was sounding like his father at this moment. "You will apologies to her."

"Tell me Malfoy, why is it that you're forcing Harry to apologies, but you and your friends are allowed to say what they want about Harry and myself." Hermione asked not moving from her place in front of Harry.

"Because the truth hurts mudblood." Draco said simply.

"well, then perhaps you should take a closer look at the company you keep!" Hermione snapped. Draco glared at her reaching for his own wand only to have Hermione raise her's a bit more.

"Just try it Granger, I dare you. You'll be on the ground before you can even say a single word." Draco watched as Hermione looked at the other three Slytherin's in the room. Blaise looked ready to grab his own wand as did Theo, and Pansy already had her's out. Hermione didn't lower her wand though.

Harry knew he had to do something, stop this before it escalated into an actual fight. But he couldn't move. "stop it...' Harry said softly putting a hand on his head. No one seemed to hear him though. "Please stop it..." There was a pounding in his head that was getting worse as the voices in the room seemed to fade out. He could hear Hermione and Draco still fighting. Hermione refusing to back down, and Draco getting more and more angry. It was the anger that Harry felt though, the anger that Hermione dare stand up to him and not know her proper place, anger at Harry for causing this situation, there was so much anger there Harry felt as if he were loosing himself in it. He couldn't breath, his head was pounding worse then usual. And then there was that voice again, that laughing taunting voice that had been present in the back of his mind all year.

"It's your fault" The voice whispered, no, it wasn't a whisper. It echoed through his mind. The voices around him now sounded scared, though the anger was still there. Forcing his eyes open Harry looked up finding himself on the floor. Hermione kneeling next to him, her mouth was moving but he couldn't hear anything she was saying. That voice, why was it so loud? "They don't care about you. No one does. You cause pain wherever you are. How much longer before everyone leaves and you are alone. How much longer before they ask Voldemort to kill you because the world would be a better place without Harry Potter."

The words hurt, so much more because Harry had thought that himself more then once. Usually during the summers when he was cut off from everything and everyone he knew and loved. But then school would start and he would be home, he would have his friends. "But in the end even the closest friendship is a lie." How true was that? He still had Hermione...but Ron was gone, Ron had left him. He felt the burning inside him again, a feeling that he had come to associate with his magic. Why did it have to burn? "Because even your own magic knows that you do not belong in this world." "Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!' Harry shouted wanting the voice to be quiet, just once leave him alone. He covered his ears shaking his head as the voice laughed. A high cruel laugh that had Harry screaming.

"Bloody hell!" Draco cursed ducking as Harry's magic exploded sending everything flying back. Even he fell back onto the floor. "Potter!" Draco shouted trying to get Harry to stop screaming as the black haired boy writhed around on the floor clutching his head and screamed. Blaise was struggling over to Draco.

"we have to calm him down before he actually does damage to someone!" Blaise said glancing over to where Theo and Pansy had been blown back, and then over at Hermione who was pinned painfully against the wall though no one looked like they had been hurt by the outburst. Blaise struggled to his feet making his way over to Harry. He wrapped his arms tightly around him forcing Harry's magic back where it belonged and calming it down. Though Harry continued to struggle against him screaming.

"Draco! Get over here and DO something!" Blaise snapped as Draco just sat there and watched. Moving forward Draco looked at Harry wrapped in Blaise's arms, reaching out he touched Harry's forehead only to pull his hand back with a hiss looking at his hand, then at Harry's scar that was turning a brilliant red color that was hot to the touch. Making a mental note to ask about that later, avoiding the scar Draco put his hand on Harry's head again opening up the bond that he had been ignoring for the past week. Draco nearly fell over with the blinding pain he felt in his head.

"Potter, you need to calm down. No one is going to hurt you." Draco said but Harry was still struggling, though he had at least stopped screaming. "Potter, look at me." Harry kept his eyes close. "Damn it Potter!"

"Draco!" Blaise snapped. "I know you're pissed off at him right now but you yelling at him isn't going to help anything." Blaise said. He hadn't meant to snap at Draco, but he could still feel Harry's magic swelling waiting for the chance to get free again.

"Potter, listen to me you have to calm down." Draco tried again, keeping his tone gentle.

"don't call him that." Hermione said catching Blaise's attention.

"Don't call who what?" He asked as Draco continued his efforts to calm Harry down.

"Harry, try calling him Harry." She suggested, remembering the conversation she had had with Harry in the library. Blaise looked down at Harry shifting so that he could pull Harry onto his lap and still keep his arms around him he leaned down and whispered.

"Harry, Draco and I are here. You're okay. Granger is worried about you so you need to calm down." Harry let out a small whimper but slowly stopped struggling keeping his eyes closed as he slumped back against Blaise.

"That's it." Draco said. "Easy breaths, you're okay now." Draco whispered. Once Harry had calmed down enough Draco pulled away and stood up, biting his tongue to keep whatever comments he wanted to say to himself he slammed up his shields over the bond before turning to Pansy and Theodore to see if they were okay. The room was a complete mess, and he was going to make Harry fix it as soon as he could.

"That was quite interesting." Theodore said as he sat up rubbing his head. He looked down where Pansy had been thrown as Draco came over to help her up. "I believe you owe us an explanation." He fixed his gaze on Blaise who was still holding Harry.

Hermione pulled herself up off the floor rubbing her head where it had hit the wall, making her way back over to Harry she knelt down next to him noticing first that he was holding onto Blaise rather tightly and shaking. "Is he alright?" She asked frowning slightly looking at Blaise who was looking down at Harry curled in his lap.

"He should be, from what I can tell his magic had turned inside again. I wish he would learn that it's better to just let his magic go instead of fighting it like that. He's going to end up doing more damage to himself then anything else. I really don't understand it."

"It's because he's Harry, he doesn't want to hurt anyone. I've seen him give up a lot to make sure that people around him are safe and as happy as can be." Hermione sighed again brushing her fingers through Harry's hair feeling the slight burning in his scar.

"Stupid Gryffindor." Theodore snorted earning another glare from Hermione,

"Harry may not like you, but he hates seeing people get hurt if there is something he can do to stop it. Being Slytherin, or Gryffindor doesn't matter to him. And he would hate himself if he knew he was the one who had hurt someone else." Hermione said simply

"...mione?" Harry opened his eyes blinking a few times as his vision cleared. She turned her attention back to Harry and continued brushing his hair away from his face.

"It's alright Harry, everything's fine now and no one is hurt." She smiled when she saw him visibly relax. "You should get some rest Harry...actually." She pulled out her wand again summoning her bag to her, reaching inside she pulled out a smile potion vile. "You should take this Harry, it's just a small dose, so it should only help you get some sleep.'

"No." Harry said firmly moving a little closer to Blaise who was looking at the vile curiously. Draco however wasn't really looking at the vile, he quite frankly didn't care what was in it, what he did care about was the fact that Harry was making himself quite comfortable with Blaise.

"Harry, I really think you should rest..." Hermione tried again.

"I'm FINE." Harry pushed away from Blaise and stood up swaying slightly on his feet, trying to prove to her that he was in fact fine and didn't need the potion, he wasn't going to sleep, he didn't need rest and he wasn't hungry. He looked around the room taking in the damage for the first time, there was one chair that hadn't been turned over so he made his way over to that and sat down pulling his knees up close to him and hugging him as he tried now to get warm. Just a few moments ago he was burning up from the inside out, and now that that fire inside him was gone he couldn't stop shaking. The others watched him silently, and it was Pansy who finally spoke.

"I want answers." She said giving Draco a look that he knew all to well. She was not going to leave him or Blaise alone until she got what she was looking for.

"What exactly is going on with you two and Potter?" Theodore asked. Draco shared a look with Blaise curious about how much they should tell their friends. The last thing they wanted was any of this to get back to Voldemort, but then again it would be a miracle if the Dark Lord didn't know something was going on by now.

"To put it simply, we are bonded with Potter." Blaise said when it appeared that Draco wouldn't be able to tell them. "We don't know anything about the bond, other then the fact that we are in fact bonded with him. I can sense his magic, and Draco we believe is bonded with Harry on a more emotional level."

"I can usually ignore the bond though. However after today's charming display, it appears that Potter can not." Draco said looking over at Harry and couldn't help but notice the flinch. He was tempted to open his mind again to the bond, but Harry was a mess.

"We've tried to look for a few books on bonding but they've apparently been removed from the library." Blaise picked himself up off the floor to dust off his pants before pulling out his wand to fix the room up a bit. Hermione helped pulling the other chair over to sit next to Harry.

"Why don't you just ask your dad to send you some books Draco?" Pansy asked taking up the seat next to Theodore again while Blaise pulled Draco down onto his lap ignoring the protests from the blond boy.

"We thought of doing that, but that would bring up quite a few questions that neither of us really want to answer."Blaise said keeping his hold on Draco.

Hermione looked over at them, knowing this wasn't really her conversation, but if they were looking for information about the bond like she was. "I haven't been able to find anything either, I was going to wait until tomorrow when we go into Hogsmeed to see if I can find something. If I do find anything, I can let you borrow the books."

"Good, the sooner we break this thing the better." Draco hated accepting help from a mudblood, but he really was desperate to get out of this bond.

Harry sat in the chair just watching and listening to everyone. He really didn't have the energy right now to say anything, or even really comprehend what they were talking about. It was a bout the bond, were they trying to break it? That was probably for the best, he too wanted the bond broken. But when he thought about what it would be like to break the bond he felt empty, a lot like he had felt during last summer when he was stuck at the Dursley's. He looked over at Blaise and Draco, seeing the blond boy looking quite content as he sat with Blaise's arms wrapped around him. Harry had had those same arms around him not to long ago, they made him feel safe and he wanted those arms around him again, he also couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to also have Draco's arms around him, remembering the calming feeling that had washed over him when Draco had touched his forehead before. If the bond was broken, he would never be able to feel those arms again, or the calming touch of Draco. Would it really be better if they all just went back to hating each other? Harry told himself that it would, but he knew better then that. Magic always left it's mark, even when it wasn't there any more. This bond with Draco and Blaise could and would be broken, but Harry doubted he could ever truly go back to hating either of the Slytherins.

As the conversation continued Theodore looked over at Harry and frowned taking in the small figure curled up in the chair. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't ever look twice at Potter, let alone actually take in how he looked, but there was normal about this situation. And the smaller boy really did look terrible. "Hey Blaise, he doesn't look so good. Think we should take him to the hospital wing?" Theodore asked noticing how pale Harry was looking. Blaise looked over at Harry, as did Draco.

"He's fine." Draco said but frowned when Blaise removed his arms shifting Draco off his lap to get a closer look at Harry.

"Harry?' Hermione asked shifting closer brushing some hair away from his face where it had fallen. Harry turned glassy green eyes to look at her.

"...Hermione. Why does it hurt?" He asked letting his eyes close as he rested his head back against the chair. Blaise stood up from the couch and looked at Draco.

"You should go get Professor Snape I think. He can get Pomfrey and Dumbledore here faster then we can." He said leaving the common room coming back with a blanket he walked over and wrapped it around Harry's shaking form.

Draco glared at his boyfriend, was this how it was going to be while they were still bonded? Something happened to Potter and Blaise would jump at the chance of taking care of the other boy. "You seem to care a lot about Potter all of a sudden." Draco said. Granted he knew part of that was the bond, but he was doing just fine ignoring it, ignoring the feelings he had towards Potter, ignoring the fact that it made his chest tighten as he looked at the pale shaking form under the blanket.

"I can't help it." Blaise said fixing Draco with a stern look. "I can't help it when he's like this, it might just be the bond, but right now he looks small and helpless and I can't make myself ignore it. Just like I couldn't ignore it when he insisted on talking to Weasley, or when he went flying by himself without proper clothes on. I can't ignore it when he decides to skip eating for the day, he obviously doesn't take care of himself, so someone has to make sure he does." Blaise explained, he knew Draco was ignoring the bond, but while Draco did that, it made the feelings intensify within Blaise to the point where he couldn't ignore them. The only thing that kept coming to mind was that Harry would die if he too ignored the bond. And looking at the small boy now under the blanket Blaise knew that it would and could happen.

Draco glared at Blaise, feeling like the Italian boy had just announced to him and everyone else in the room that he loved Potter. Draco turned his hard gaze onto Harry feeling a bit of his old true hatred for the boy surface. Blaise was his, he was not give him up to someone like Potter. Harry Potter, he got everything, but Draco would personally turn Potter over to Voldemort if he took Blaise away from him. Giving one more last look that did not go unnoticed by the others in the room he stormed out to go and get Snape. Anything was better then staying in that room right now.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 6

A/N :This chapter has not been beta read yet! I have gone over it myself and fixed a couple things here and there but my grammar sucks, and there is only so much spell check can do.

 

Hermione helped Harry move to his own room when Draco when to get Snape. When he returned he didn't even bother looking into Harry's room, going straight to his own slamming the door shut behind him. Blaise sighed at Draco's actions, he would have to deal with that soon. Turning his attention instead to Professors Snape and Dumbledore. The headmaster for his part stayed out of the way as Pomfrey checked over Harry, and Snape assisted her much to Harry's discomfort.

After checking Harry over it was then decided that he would not have to go to the hospital wing, but Pomfrey did insist that he take a sleeping drought and get some rest. It was under protest that Harry drank the potion he was given. His head still hurt slightly though, so his protest wasn't very loud or violent as Pomfrey helped him drink it, then lay down before the room could start spinning. Harry was aware of his glasses being removed and someone pulling the covers over him. Blinking he saw the very blurry outline of Dumbledore.

"Get some rest my boy." Dumbledore said.

Hermione for her part had stayed well out of the way, but hadn't wanted to leave until she was sure Harry would be getting some sleep. Once he was out she decided she might as well go back to Gryffindor tower and get some of her home work done so she would have the time in Hogsmeade tomorrow to look for the books about bonding she would need. She turned to leave and saw Blaise leaning against the door frame of Harry's room.

"Thank you." Hermione said to him. Blinking Blaise looked over at her trying to figure out what she was thanking him for. "I know it's the bond that is making you protective of him but...still thank you."

"I'm not doing this to get any kind of thanks, or gratitude from a Gryffindor." Blaise said simply, since he wasn't sure he had actually earned it.

"You're not doing it just because of the bond either." She shot back smiling when Blaise chuckled turning his attention back to Harry who was sitting calmly on his bed

"No, not really. The bond is there the only reason I actually started paying attention to him. Before Halloween I never even looked twice at Harry. But even though me actually caring about him isn't real, the worry I have for him is very real. There was something different about how he lost control today." Blaise couldn't really explain it. In all the magical out bursts from Harry there had always been a target. A reason for it. Blaise had half expected Harry's magic to lash out at Draco, but the way it had turned inward on the smaller boy. It made it seem as if there was something inside Harry that it was trying to get rid of.

"Something different?" Hermione asked.

Blaise shook his head. "It might be nothing. I think for right now we should concentrate on finding out more about this bond first, then we'll worry about how to fix his magic." Blaise looked at her when she nodded her silent agreement. One thing at a time.

"I'm going to take Harry to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow to look for some books." Hermione said pulling her back strap over her shoulder

"Let me know if you find anything. Though, don't be to public about it. I wouldn't want people thinking that I'm actually on speaking terms with more than one Gryffindor." Blaise smirked earning another smile from Hermione.

"No, of course not." She said and left after one last look over at Harry who was sleeping peacefully now. Blaise turned his attention back to the adult wizards in the room. Pomfrey was making sure Harry was warm and comfy while Dumbledore and Snape were standing off to the side talking.

"Headmaster, I think it might be wise if we start his Occlumency lessons sooner than we planned." Snape said. Blaise caught the look exchanged between the two older wizards. He got the feeling that there was something going on that he should probably know about.

"He can start on Monday then. It will give him the weekend to rest." Dumbledore said looking down at Harry who was now sleeping peacefully.

"I would like to start sooner than that if possible." Snape insisted earning another look from Dumbledore.

"Severus, I really think after tonight we should let Harry rest and get his strength up. So he will start on Monday." Dumbledore said making it clear that they would not be discussing this any further. Anyone could tell that Snape was not happy with Dumbledore's decision but he nodded anyway. Dumbledore smiled that annoying twinkling in his eye.

"Good, I have also finished Harry's class schedule. All the teachers will have a copy by tomorrow so that they can arrange their time accordingly." He looked over at Blaise smiling at him when he saw the tan boy watching them. "Can you inform Harry when he wakes up to come by my office?" He asked. Blaise nodded. "Well then that's everything taken care of for tonight I think. Good night."

"Good evening sir." Blaise said deciding that the Headmaster could show himself out. Though he waited until Pomfrey did her one last check of Harry and left as well before he looked over at Snape who had remained in a corner of the room silent until everyone had left.

"Where has Draco gone?" Snape asked fixing Blaise with a stern look that he reserved for times when he was more than mildly irritated about something. Blaise shrugged.

"He is in his room sulking sir." Blaise informed the professor who sighed shaking his head. Snape knew full well how much or a brat Draco could be. Being the boy's godfather and all.

"Before you go got Hogsmeade tomorrow, I wish to see both you and Draco and Potter in my chambers. There is something we need to discuss." Snape said moving around Blaise to leave the room.

"Sir. Why do you think it's so important for Harry to start taking Occlumency?" Blaise was curious about that. He really didn't think it would help their current situation at all, since it was obvious to him that Draco was already using that to block out the bond with Harry, Snape stopped and looked back at Blaise studying him for a long moment.

"I will discuss that with you when you three come to my office." Snape left and Blaise sighed looking back at the bed where Harry was sleeping, knowing that Harry would be out for a while Blaise made sure he was comfortable before leaving the room. Pausing as he wondered if he should leave the door open so that he would know when Harry was awake. Discarding that thought almost instantly he closed the door behind him with a soft click, turning his attention to the door across the hall. One problem had been dealt with for now, now to deal with the second one. Blaise went into the room he shared with Draco and paused in the doorway seeing the blond boy sitting at his desk, and a familiar hawk sitting in the window. This really was the last thing they needed right now.

"What does your father want this time?" Blaise asked trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice though from the look Draco gave him, he didn't succeed all that well.

"He is just clarifying that I will be home for the winter holidays." Draco folded up the letter he had been reading putting it in his desk. "I will reply tomorrow." Blaise waited for Draco to turn and face him before he spoke up.

"Talk to me Draco. What is going on. We had talked about this while Harry was still in the hospital wing. And now you don't seem to happy with being bonded to him." Blaise looked at Draco who was facing him but still avoiding eye contact. He heard a small snort of laughter from Draco.

"You make it sound like I was happy with the bonding to begin with. However, neither of us have any choice in the matter do we Blaise?" Draco asked leaning back in his chair. Blaise stood there with his arms crossed, he knew Draco wasn't finished talking. "I just don't like it Blaise. You know I've always complained about Potter getting everything he doesn't deserve. He's famous and he never did anything to deserve it." Draco said going off on his normal reasons for why he hated Harry Potter. But Blaise felt that there was perhaps something more to it this time. Or maybe that was because it was a bit more personal this time around.

"That's not all it is. Even if it was the normal 'I hate Harry Potter' that doesn't call for this past week, nor today. I was ready to write the week off as you were still in a mood. But it's getting worse Draco, and if you continue you're going to kill Harry. I can keep his magic in check, but unlike the two of us Harry doesn't have any control over this bond, what he feels and doesn't feel. He is just taking it all in. Every nasty comment from you is affecting him more than he is showing." Blaise tried to explain. Draco however was still doing his best to block everything to do with the bond. Perhaps his original hatred for Harry Potter was just too great for a simple magic spell. Though even if it could not get rid of it, then surely the feeling should at least then muted slightly. But then again there was that same problem. If they had even just one book on bonding instead of feeling their way blindly through this whole thing. "Draco." Blaise started again, but Draco glared at him.

"I get it. You've gone soft on Potter. And you don't care at all if it's because of the bond or not. Do you even care, that what you are feeling for him right now, it isn't real?" And now they were getting closer to what was actually the cause of Draco's mood. It may not be the bond, or even Potter. But more of the way Blaise was treating the boy who lived.

"I know that it isn't real. I also know that it doesn't matter if what I feel for him is real or not. The fact is that we are bonded to him, and by being bonded we have entered into a magical contract." Blaise was trying not to yell at Draco to get him to understand the position they were in, but perhaps it was good that this was happening sooner rather than later. Draco was stubborn, and if given more time to think this over it might be worse than having an upset boyfriend.

"I know all that Blaise. Potter's magic called out for help because Harry himself could not. Our magic accepted him thus creating a magical contract that is impossible to break by anyone other than then the people involved." Draco said as if reciting an old lesson he had learned over and over until he was bored with it. "If the terms of the contract are broken, then one or all of who are involved could die. That is a worse case scenario though." Draco finished, Blaise couldn't help but notice that Draco really sounded as if he didn't care at all what happened to Harry.

"And knowing that you still want to try to break this bond so early?" Blaise asked, his only response was a small shrug from Draco. "I want to find out about the bond before we decide to just break it, I want to find out what it is, how it affects us, why it chose us. And why our magic accepted it so easily."

"If we don't find a book tomorrow, I'm going to write my father and ask him." Draco insisted.

"I don't think that would be a good idea Draco. But if you can ask him, without hinting about the bond with Potter, it might be our only option. And you still have the option of asking Professor Snape as well. He asked to see us in his office tomorrow."

"Let me guess, it's something to do with Harry." Draco huffed as he stood up going over to get his pajamas on.

"Draco." Blaise sighed shaking his head. "Never mind. We'll finish talking in the morning I suppose." He could only hope that a decent night sleep for Draco would settle down the attitude a bit. Another thing he knew would probably help. Blaise also got ready for bed smirking he slid into Draco's bed right up next to the blond grinning when he felt Draco shift a bit closer to him. Things were going to be complicated for a while, he just really did hope that Draco's attitude wouldn't make things worse before they got better.

* *b * *

Harry woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly well rested. He really had not meant to sleep all night, but that he did must mean that he was far more worn down then he had originally thought. He rolled over in his bed wrapping his arms tightly around his pillow half expecting Draco of Blaise to come knocking on his door again since the sun was up. He didn't know what it was about Slytherin's always getting up with the sun, sleep was much better. As he continued to lay there not really tired enough to go back to sleep, but to comfy to get out of bed he thought about what had happened the night before. He had definitely over reacted, but that voice it had been louder last night. Harry had had his suspicions on what that voice actually was, but after last night he was nearly sure that it had been Voldemort. Or maybe he was just over reacting to everything again, after all the voice had only said things Harry himself had thought more than once.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the knock on the door. Smiling a bit he rolled himself out of bed, still reluctant to get up but knowing that Blaise wouldn't go away until Harry opened the door.

"I'm awake." Harry called through the door.

"Good, when you are dressed Professor Dumbledore wanted to talk to you this morning. Draco and I have already had breakfast brought to our rooms and there is enough for you." Harry went over and opened the door and Blaise sighed seeing that Harry was still in the clothes he had been wearing the previous night. Though he didn't comment on it this time, since this wasn't actually Harry's fault. "Did you sleep well?"

"Don't people who take a sleeping potion usually sleep well?" Harry asked crossing his arms over his chest. Blaise chose not to answer though he did stand there and study Harry for a long moment until he heard Draco come out of their room behind him.

"I am going down to Snape's office. When you have finished escorting Potter I will assume you shall meet me down there." Draco said not even looking at either of them as he walked down the hall and left. Blaise for his part didn't even look at Draco either, busy watching Harry as the smaller boy tensed hearing Draco's voice, and his head lowered slightly.

"Harry..." Blaise started but Harry shook his head quickly and backed away not even looking at Blaise now.

"I should get changed and go see Dumbledore." He said closing his door and going to do just that. But Blaise wasn't going to be shut out, if he allowed Harry to do this now like he had all week nothing would ever get fixed. So he walked into Harry's room just as the black-haired boy was pulling off his shirt.

"Harry, I think we should talk...' He trailed off catching site of Harry's back, he was not given much time to stare at what he had seen, as Harry pulled his shirt back down quickly, before spinning around to look at Blaise. Looking quite angry that Blaise had just walked in on him. But there was a slight fear in his eyes that Blaise saw as well. "Harry..."

"Don't." Harry cut him off. "Just...just don't."

"Don't what?" Blaise raised an eyebrow at Harry who shook his head.

"I don't want to talk right now, about anything." He was still fixing Blaise with a glare silently daring him to try to say something. Rubbing his temples Blaise shook his head.

"Fine, just, get dressed then while you eat, I do want to talk about the bond." He said. "I would rather do it when Draco is here, but I don't think that will be happening for a little while."

"Look, Blaise. I know you're trying to help, and you want to help or whatever. But, maybe this bond isn't a good idea after all. I don't know why you're trying so hard, Draco never will, he hates me to much. And if you keep trying to get closer to me it will just make things with Draco much worse. You two are together so, you should spend your time with him. And I'm doing my best to not get in the way. I think my magic is getting better anyway, last night was the first accidental magic I've had most of the week." Harry was smiling now, Blaise was amazed at how Harry could stand there and smile like that as if nothing had happened last night, as if the way Draco treated him didn't really matter.

"I'm still going to help as long as there is a bond."

"Well, that should be fixed soon, so like I said. there really is no point in trying to do more than you already have. I think, maybe you should go catch up with Draco, I'll eat something then go up and talk to Dumbledore." Harry turned around to gather up the clothes he was going to wear that day, he didn't turn back around to look at Blaise. The Italian boy stood there watching Harry letting out a long sigh.

"We'll see you in Hogsmeade then." He turned and left Harry to get dressed. Harry's whole body was tense hearing Blaise close the door behind him. It was easier this way. Harry told himself, the bond would be broken by tomorrow if Draco had his way about it. And even if it wasn't even if there was no possible way to break this bond, Harry decided that it was better for everyone involved if he continued just not being there. He would not be the one to get in the way of Draco and Blaise being together. Draco obviously cared very much about Blaise, more then Harry would have ever thought. The surge of emotion he got from Draco when he saw Blaise standing in Harry's doorway talking to him was enough to really send home the fact, that Harry was not welcome here. He was tolerated. He would not give Draco a chance for his tolerance of Harry to turn violent.

Getting dressed Harry went out into the common room where he found the plate of food Blaise had mentioned. He grabbed a piece of toast heading out. Blaise would probably scold him later for not eating more, but at least Harry wasn't skipping food entirely.

Harry hurried through the castle up to Dumbledore's office giving the password stepped on the staircase to ride it up to the top. Knocking on the door while he wondered what it was that Dumbledore wanted to speak with him about. Though Harry was sure he wouldn't have to really guess at it since the topic of conversation the past couple days had been the bond.

Harry looked up when the door opened and he stepped into the office. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and smiled at Harry. "Ah, Harry my boy. Good to see you up and about this morning, after last night I wasn't so sure you would be wanting to get out of bed." Dumbledore chuckled and Harry gave him a small smile in return.

"Blaise got me up, he said you wanted to talk to me?" Harry sat down in the usual chair he took when in the Headmaster's office after refusing the candy offered, and he couldn't help but think about the last time he had sat in it.

"Yes, I just wanted to make sure you got a copy of your class schedule so you will be able to return to classes this coming Monday, provided there are no more incidents?" He handed over a piece of parchment that had all of Harry's classes listed on them. Though he noticed that he had two extra classes with Snape.

"Sir...what are these extra classes for? I didn't think I was doing that bad in potions." He frowned pointing them out.

"Those my boy are not potions class. They are special lessons that Professor Snape has agreed to give you. I believe they will help you in the long run."

"Does it have to be Snape?" Harry knew he was pouting slightly about this, but he really didn't want to spend more time with Snape then he absolutely had to.

"Professor Snape, Harry. And I am afraid it does, he is the most skilled in this school, and since Voldemort's return I believe it would be safer if we did not bring in a new teacher for this since you are the only one reciving these lessons." Harry sighed and nodded. Maybe he could talk them into one extra lesson.

"Can I ask what this new lesson is for sir?"

"You shall be taught Occlumency. It is a skill that will help protect your mind, something I believe Mr. Malfoy is quite good at as well, he may be able to help you learn a few tricks if you ask." Dumbledore suggested and Harry sank a little further in his seat at the mention of Draco.

"I don't know if that would be a good idea right now sir." Harry didn't want to go into details so he sat there and studied his schedule.

"Are you and Mr. Malfoy still not getting along? I would have thought the bond-"

"Sir." Harry intorupted. "The bond apparently isn't going to erase years of him hating me." Harry sounded as if he were fighting back tears with that sentence. Making it apparent to Dumbledore that the bond was indeed affecting Harry and the way he felt towards the Slytherin's he found himself bound to.

"I understand that this is something that is easier said then done at this point in time Harry. But I believe things will get better if you are able to sit down and talk with Mr. Zabini, and Mr. Malfoy about the bond. Talk about how it affects you, and find out how it affects them. What has changed since you woke up last week?"

Harry looked at Dumbledore thinking about what he had just said, he felt a lot had changed recently, and was surprised when he realize that it had in fact only been a week since he woke up in the hospital wing to find himself magically bonded to Blaise and Draco. The fact that his feelings towards the two Slytherin's had changed so much in the week almost made him feel dizzy. But it made more sense that Draco didn't like him still. But Harry couldn't help but wonder if there was in fact something more to it. Maybe something he was missing.

"Thank you sir. I think, if it's alright. Hermione and I have plans to go into Hogsmeade today."

"I think it would be wise if you took Blaise and Draco along with you." Dumbledore suggested his eye twinkling at Harry when the boy nodded.

"Yes sir, I belive they were planning a trip of their own into town. I didn't want to crowd them though. I mean, they were a couple before I came in and ruined things." Harry lowered his head and continued talking before Dumbledore could say anything. "I think it would be fair to give them some alone time since they have to deal with me every other day. I can give them the weekends to themselves."

"If that is what you think is best my boy. But I think I must urge you to find some time soon to talk to them about the bond. That is the best way to find out what the bond is, and what is expected from each of you."

"What do you mean sir?" Harry frowned, he hadn't thought the bond would 'expect' anything from them.

"It is my understanding that Mr. Zabini is more connected to your magic then Mr. Malfoy is. Though your magic calms down faster when both of them are in contact with you, it is Mr. Zabini who can sense when your magic may or may not be become too much for you to handle. So what do you believe Mr. Malfoy's part is in the bond? If not to help keep your magic from over flowing, he must have another purpose." Dumbledore leaned back in the chair and watched Harry think that one over. He of course had his own assumptions about the bond, but not being part of the bond he couldn't say for sure. So he would urge Harry into thinking about it, and hoped that it would make things easier for the boy who really was much to small for his age.

As the two wizards sat there in silence the fire-place came to life. Dumbledore looked over and smiled. "Ah, Severus. Would you care to come through for a cup of tea?"

"No thank you sir. I am only here to inquire if Mr. Potter could come down to my office. There are a few things I would like to discuss with him."

"Surely that can wait for now Severus, Harry was just about to head down to Hogsmeade, I believe he had some plans today." Harry watched the exchange between the Headmaster and Potions professor.

"It's alright sir, I wasn't leaving until after breakfast anyway." Harry stood up. "Thank you for my schedule sir." He said politely to Dumbledore then looked at Snape's head in the fire. "I'll be right down." He turned to leave the office.

"Just use the flu, it will be faster." The head in the fire-place sneered before vanishing. Harry looked at the fire-place then back at Dumbledore who looked perhaps a little tired.

"Sir?"

"Go ahead my dear boy. The powder is in the pot next to the fire-place." Dumbledore smiled at him, Harry nodded taking some powder. "Just say Professor Snape's Office, it will take you right there." Dumbledore gave Harry another smile as the boy did just that.

**B**

While Harry had gone up to visit Dumbledore, Blaise and Draco had gone down to Snape's office to speak with the potions professor.

"I had expected that Potter would be trailing along after you." Snape admitted when he saw just the two boys walk into his office. He would have invited them to his privet chambers, but he had homework to grade over the weekend, even though it was tempting to just fail everyone and move on.

"Harry had to go see the Headmaster this morning." Blaise said when it looked as if Draco wasn't going to say a thing. Snape nodded and finished correcting the paper he had been working on before pushing that aside to deal with later. Standing up from his chair he went to the door leading to his potions lab knowing that Draco and Blaise would follow him.

"You three seem to have survived the first week of being bonded together, that is more than I expected."

"It is difficult to be bonded to Potter, but not impossible." Draco offered.

"I on the other hand am finding it easier than I originally expected it to be. Though I suppose that has something to do with the fact that I am at least putting an effort into making this work." Blaise said earing a look from Draco that he shrugged off. Draco could be mad at him, it was the truth that Draco even though agreeing that this would be in their best interest was fighting the bond every step of the way.

"I see. So you enjoy being at Potter's beck and call?" Snape sneered at Blaise who glared right back at his Professor.

"With all due respect sir. I am not at Potter's beck and call. He didn't ask to be bonded to Draco and I, and from what I have witnessed this past week he is having a harder time adjusting to this bond then either of us are." Blaise crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall ignoring the look Draco was still giving him.

"And why do you think that, Mr. Zabini?" Snape asked picking out something off his supply shelf he put it in the cauldron.

"Lots of reasons sir. this bond is new, all three of us are still trying to find out about it. But with no knowledge on the bond all we have right now is trial and error. All three of us are connected now in some way, but I think one of the key problems for Harry right now is that his mind is an open book. Draco has been using Occlumency to not only block out Harry, but the bond as well." Blaise informed Snape, who paused in making his potion to look at Draco.

"I have to, Potter doesn't shield at all and if you caught a glimpse of his mind you'd know why I'm blocking him out." Draco huffed making Blaise sigh.

"But that doesn't mean you have to block him out completely." Blaise said feeling as if they weren't getting anywhere with this conversation. They hadn't really gotten anywhere trying to talk about it the night before.

"What is the reason you are blocking him out?" Snape asked catching Draco's attention before he and Blaise could continue their own discussion.

"It's his mind." Draco said. "I can feel it if I don't block him out, though it's more than that, I can't explain it. But he is really messed up Uncle Severus."

"So, you block him out, and the bond, so the bond does not affect you as it is Mr. Zabini. You do know that in any bond that can cause more harm than good." Snape pointed out and Draco sighed nodding.

"I know, I just don't like it. When we entered into the bond I had no choice and I agreed to continue the bond because I suddenly felt sympathy towards Potter. After that first day though, that first magical outburst he had I started blocking him a little. Then the next one, I blocked it completely because it was making my head hurt. I hadn't realized I'd blocked the bond as well. And now that I know what I did, I'm reluctant to open it again." Draco explained to Snape and to Blaise that he had reasons behind closing the bond, and now that he was not affected so much by it and he could continue hating Potter as if nothing had happened. He really didn't want to open the bond again.

"Draco, I am going to have to ask you to open the bond with Potter again." Snape said. Draco's eyes went wide and he looked at the potions professor as if he was being betrayed. "I know that your feelings for Potter have been magically altered, however, I do not believe you have been altered as much as you think you have. This type of bond you three have entered into will only amplify any positive feelings you might already have towards each other. For you Mr. Zabini, you have never hated Potter so it was easy to amplify that into caring for him. And Draco, I believe that once when you were younger-."

"Whatever I felt about Potter when I was younger is long gone." Draco snapped.

"Yes, I believe that might be true, which might be why you can block the bond so easily. I dislike the boy very much, but I do not truly hate him as everyone in this school is most likely to believe. And I think the same goes for you Draco. Now, I am going to call Potter down here, he has spoken to the Headmaster long enough and there are things that I think should be discussed." Snape said and left the two boys alone to go use the floo.

"Blaise." Draco started, not looking back at the Italian boy who was watching him closely. Draco wrapped his arms around himself sighing when he felt stronger arms wrap around him and he leaned back against Blaise.

"I wish I knew what to say or do to make this easier for you Draco." Blaise held Draco close. "As much as I care for Harry now, I love you Draco. And if it does ever come down to having to break this bond I will choose you. But please, lets just give this bond a try, so that we can maybe have a better future." Blaise whispered and Draco sighed and nodded. He would try, but he would also make it very clear that Blaise was his, and being a Malfoy, he did not share.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Harry Potter.

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 7

Snape was waiting next to the fireplace in his office, as it flared to life, signaling that Harry was coming through from the Headmaster's office. He sighed, shaking his head as he watched Harry literally fall out of it.

"Graceful as always Potter," Snape sneered as Harry picked himself up off the floor, dusting off his robes and trying to ignore the foul mood Snape was obviously in; then again the Potions professor always seemed to be in a bad mood. "I assume that the Headmaster has given you your new class schedule."

"Yes, Sir," Harry said; pulling, the now folded, parchment out of his pocket and handing it to Snape.

The professor looked it over carefully for a few minutes, in a complete silence that made Harry feel uneasy, before handing it back to the boy in front of him.

"Did he also inform you as to what your extra lessons with me during the week shall be?" Snape asked impatiently, as Harry tried to dust more soot off his robes.

"He said you were going to teach me Occlumency." Harry glanced up at the potions professor, still trying to avoid meeting his eyes. "I'm still not sure what that actually is though," Harry admitted.

"Indeed," Snape said in a manner that plainly indicated that Harry's ignorance was of no surprise. "Then that is where we shall start. Follow me," he said, turning; his robes billowing behind him and Harry found himself wondering, not for the first time, if Snape had some sort of charm on his robes to make them do that. Or if they did it on their own.

"Potter." Snape snapped when he noticed that Harry wasn't following him.

Harry jumped; hurrying after Snape. Harry paused at the door, however, when he realized they were heading into the professor's private rooms. He had never been in the private rooms of a teacher before, not even Dumbledore's; it seemed a bit strange that Snape was allowing him into his rooms, that was until he saw that Blaise and Draco were here as well. He was unaware that he was now slowly backing out of the room until Snape caught his attention again.

"In, Potter," he commanded, "and close the door behind you."

Snape watched as Harry did as he was told; though only after he paused for another moment, seeming to think about how much of a good idea it was to lock himself in a room with three Slytherin's. But he did eventually close the door and turn to face the three people in the room. He looked like the same arrogant self centered boy that Snape knew from classes, but Snape also noticed how tense Harry looked, and how he kept his distance from Draco.

"Sit, Potter." Snape said firmly and Harry looked at him frowning.

"I think I'm alright standing for now-"

"He said sit, Potter," Draco piped in, making Harry jump and look at him before finding a seat that was nowhere near anyone.

Blaise and Draco were sat on the small sofa, while Snape took a seat in a rather large, comfy arm chair. There was easily enough space for him on the sofa, but one look at Draco and Harry felt more comfortable on the small foot stool set off to the side, where he was still closer to the door and could see all three people in the room.

"Now, Potter, Occlumency," Snape began; catching not just Harry's attention but Draco's as well.

"You're going to teach Potter Occlumency?" Draco asked, frowning at his godfather.

"I am, and I expect your help in this as well," Snape told the blond firmly. "Since you share a room with him, I am going to ask you to make sure he clears his mind every night before bed."

Snape gave Draco a look that left no room for argument on this. Satisfied that his godson wasn't going to fight him on this, at least for the moment, he looked back at Harry, who was still watching the three of them; though his eyes darted towards the door every now and then, as if making sure his escape route was still open.

"Occlumency is a form of protection against people who would invade your mind using Legilimency," Snape said catching Harry's attention again. "Though, it is also helpful for protecting your mind from other forms of intrusion," Snape explained.

He could almost strangle Dumbledore for giving him this task of teaching Harry. The bewildered look the child was giving him was already irritating the potions professor and he had to remind himself that Harry's magic was still fragile and quite dangerous to others around. It wouldn't be smart to set the boy off just yet.

"I still don't see why I need to learn something like this," Harry said, looking from Snape to Blaise and Draco. "Unless...can this be used as a way to break the bond?" he asked.

"No, it cannot," Snape told him. "However, Draco has been using Occlumency against the bond, which is why he has not been affected as Mr. Zabini here has," Snape explained and Harry thought that Draco's unchanged attitude towards him made sense now. Though, he was still sure that the last four years of being school rivals helped Draco along in blocking the bond with Harry.

"It would appear that your mind is an open book for Draco, and it is too much for him to handle. So he is using Occlumency against you, and thus blocking you and the bond out at the same time," Snape continued on. "This however is not a 'fix all' solution; it could harm one or both of you if something is not done about it. So you will learn Occlumency and learn to shield your own mind from Draco." Snape leaned back in his chair watching as Harry took that information in, and looked over at Draco.

"Does it hurt you?" Harry asked.

"No, Potter, it does not 'hurt' me. Your mind is just a crazy loud place and I would rather not listen to it or you all the time. So if it will get one part of you to stay quiet, I'll help you with Occlumency." Draco said and Harry ducked his head nodding slowly.

Snape watched Harry's reaction to Draco, finding it rather strange that the loud mouth Gryffindor was not as eager as he usually was to snipe back at Draco.

"Harry," Blaise sighed not sure what he could say to Harry right now, which Draco wouldn't get pissed off about. "Until we can find a book and get some actual research done I think this will be the best temporary solution," he said and Harry nodded, not looking at him either.

Blaise let out a long sigh before looking at Draco. "I think we should get going if we want to have enough time in Hogsmeade today," Blaise then looked over at Snape who didn't seem to have a comment for this. "Unless you were planning on starting the Occlumency lesson's now, sir." Blaise couldn't see any reason to start the lessons now, though if it really was going to end up hurting Draco the longer he blocked the bond then perhaps now would be a better time to start.

"As much as I would like to start these lessons and get them over with, I do not think right now would be a good time to start." Snape stood up from his chair after he said this, going over to a book shelf he had against the far wall. He pulled down three large books.

"Potter, I want you to read these books. If you have not finished reading the first book by Monday then that is what you will be doing for your first Occlumency lesson," Snape walked over to where Harry was sitting and practically dropped the books in the boy's lap.

Harry looked at the thickness of the first book that Snape wanted him to read and he wondered how he was going to be able to finish it by Monday. Blaise watched Harry's expression as he looked at the books and nodded to the Professor.

"Right, let's go then," Blaise stood up and pulled Draco to his feet as well.

***B***

Hermione stood in the doorway to the great hall, looking around trying to see if she spotted Harry anywhere. It was almost time for them to leave, and she didn't really want to stand there too long looking for him because Ron was trying to catch her attention. She was still avoiding him, and actually she was avoiding most of Gryffindor house right now. By now everyone in the school knew that Harry was 'shacked up' with two Slytherin's. Though how the details of this were staying quiet, she didn't know. Looking once more over to the Slytherin table knowing that Harry wouldn't be sitting there, but if Draco or Blaise were there, then she's at least be able to ask them where Harry was.

"Well, George, there appears to be someone blocking the door to the great hall."

"And our pathway to breakfast."

Hermione shook her head and turned around to see identical grins.

"I was just looking for Harry," she said shortly moving to walk around them not really in the mood to talk to them, or anyone in the Weasley family.

"Hey now, don't be like that," Fred said as he caught her arm gently.

"We know Ron is being a right git, but that's nothing new is it? We're still the good guys," George added.

"Then why have you been avoiding Harry all week, like everyone else?" She snapped turning to face them again, pulling her arm away from Fred.

"We're not avoiding him," George frowned at her glancing at his twin. "He's avoiding everyone else."

"He's been in the library nearly every day. That's not really avoiding anyone. You or anyone else could have approached him at any time!" Hermione pointed out, before taking a deep breath before she got to angry at the twins and started shouting where everyone would be able to hear her. "Okay, maybe you haven't been avoiding him on purpose, but Harry has been really stressed out this week and it's not making controlling his magic any easier," she explained without trying to give too much away. It wasn't her place to tell people about Harry's situation right now.

"Control his magic?" Fred looked surprised at this. "Why can't he control his magic? Is that why he's attacked Ron twice?"

"Despite what your brother has been telling everyone, Harry never attacked Ron," Hermione said evenly, looking around and noticing the people who were walking by slowly trying to hear what Hermione was talking to Fred and George about; most likely having heard Harry's name as part of the conversation.

"You going to tell us what is really going on then?" George asked.

"Look, why don't you two come to Hogsmeade with Harry and me; we can find a quiet place there to talk. And maybe you two would be able to help us out a bit, if Harry's alright with it."

"Sure," they chorused, glad that the brunette was no longer losing her temper and seemed willing to talk; they had been admittedly curious about what had happened between their youngest brother and his best friend.

"Anything we can do for Harry," the twins said.

Hermione nodded smiling a bit with the knowledge that not everyone was turning against Harry. Though she would make the suggestion to Harry about hiding under his cloak until she had had a chance to really talk to Fred and George without too many people trying to listen in.

"I'm going to find Harry, we'll catch up to you two," Hermione said heading off towards Harry's new rooms, hoping that he was just sleeping in. He had had a rather rough night after all.

She was almost there when she saw Blaise, Draco, and Harry up ahead of her. They looked as if they were at the start of yet another argument, from the way that Harry was looking at them as if he were trying to keep his anger in check, though it seemed a little painful for him.

"Harry, we can't leave you in the castle by yourself," Blaise said ignoring the look that Harry was giving him. "If your magic gets out of hand again there's no way I will be able to make it up to the castle in time to help."

"I'm not going," Harry rather forcefully, only to then move out of arms reach of either Blaise or Draco. Draco didn't seem to mind Harry moving further away from them as he himself moved closer to Blaise, keeping himself between the two of them.

"Look Harry, here's Granger. So now you can go and we can have her babysit you," Draco said when he saw Hermione hurrying up the corridor towards them. Harry looked at her giving her only a half smile.

"Hey, Hermione."

"What's wrong, Harry? You three look like you're fighting again." She gave Blaise a disapproving look as she said this.

"Not fighting really. Harry is saying he doesn't want to go to the village, and I told him he has to go since Draco and I are going, and neither of us will be able to make it up here if his magic goes crazy again," Blaise pointed out. Hermione looked at Harry then frowning a little.

"I thought we were going to go and see if we could find something about your bond." Hermione studied Harry, glancing at the books that he was carrying with him.

"I don't think I'm going to be going to Hogsmeade today, I have something I have to do this weekend before my classes start on Monday..."

"Professor Dumbledore finished your Schedule then?" Hermione asked, when Harry nodded she held her hand out so that she could look at it. Harry dug the parchment out of his pocket and handed it over without question. Looking it over she seemed quite happy with it and handed it back to him.

"What do you have to get done? I thought you were mostly caught up with our school work by now." Hermione looked at Harry, looking once again at the books he had with him.

"I have reading to do for Professor Snape," Harry admitted and showed Hermione the Occlumency books that he had to get read through the weekend.

"Why Occlumency?" Hermione took one of the books flipping through it.

"Professor Snape thinks it will help Harry with his reaction to the bond," Blaise explained. "And I told him he can just start reading it later today when we get back. Even if he does start his lessons for that on Monday the Occlumency is only going to help a little. Right now finding a book on bonding is more important I think." Blaise tried to stress the urgency for this. They couldn't just glide through and hope to figure things out as they went. Not with what had happened last night. Blaise got the unsettling feeling that if they didn't work things out now, it would just get worse. "Draco and I are going to Hogsmeade today, and I would feel much better if Harry wasn't left alone."

"I don't need someone to watch me twenty four seven!" Harry yelled getting fed up with Blaise hovering, or at least with what happened whenever Blaise decided to hover. Harry was used to Hermione hovering and being worried about him like that, but that was Hermione. And the more Blaise got protective of him, the more jealous Draco got, which in turn reflected right back to Harry who couldn't block that out yet, and it was getting harder to just ignore just how much Draco disliked him.

Hermione frowned looking between the three of them. "If I find anything out I'll let you two know," she said before she grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him off, knowing that if she left him alone with Blaise and Draco right now that things would just get worse. Harry didn't protest to being dragged off. Even if he did look back to see Blaise and Draco just before he was pulled around a corner. Hermione pulled him along into an old classroom and closed the door behind them. Harry recognized the room as one that he had destroyed once before with a magical outburst. Someone had obviously fixed it up since then.

"Harry." Hermione looked at him with a worried expression. She knew that Harry had a temper, and from what she could tell the bond was keeping that mostly in check, either that or Harry was because he didn't want his wild magic to hurt anyone again.

"I'm fine, Hermione." Harry didn't look at her as he walked over and sat on one of the desks. "I don't know how much more I can take of this though," he admitted. Hermione went over to sit next to him. "This year was going relatively good. Other then Voldemort being back. I knew it was too much to hope for that just one year in this place would go by without something major happening to me." Harry let out a small bitter laugh. "But I suppose nothing is ever normal for the boy-who-lived."

"Just because you survived something horrible as a baby Harry, doesn't mean you're cursed for life." Hermione put a hand on his shoulder frowning when he shrugged it off, but didn't make an attempt touch him again just yet.

"No, but it does make me a perfect target for everything. I can't do anything normal. There are hundreds of other students here that are able to just come here make friends and go to classes. That's all I wanted, but from the moment I stepped on the platform, people knew who I was. Draco practically declared himself my arch enemy on my first day here." Harry pulled his knees up to him to rest his chin on them and closed his eyes. "And now I'm bonded to him and he hates me more than ever."

"Oh, Harry. I don't think he hates you that much..." Hermione trailed off at the look Harry gave her.

"He's jealous; Blaise is worrying about me, and trying to make the bond work. The more Blaise is nice to me and tries to help, the worse Draco gets. And the more it comes around onto me, the more Blaise worries. Draco isn't affected by the bond at all, because he found a way to block it. But I can't, so I still feel everything from him. So yes, Hermione, I can honestly say that Draco really does hate me that much."

"Then we should go into Hogsmeade and see about finding a book. There has to be something, even if it's just what type of bond you have. That really is the best place to start. And I think a trip out of the castle is probably the best thing for you right now. You can start reading when we get back." Hermione smiled at him when he sighed and nodded, Harry knew that he a trip into the village would help him clear his head a bit. Even if it did mean he would have to mingle with all the other students again. Though Hermione helped him with that as she dug out his invisibility cloak for him to put on.

*B*

Fred and George were waiting for Harry and Hermione just outside the three broomsticks, they had been there for almost an hour now.

"We should have picked out a time to meet up with them," Fred complained.

"I don't mind waiting, there's not much else we can do here that we haven't done already. Though we could restock our supplies," George grinned.

"And then have it taken away by prefect Granger," Fred huffed. "Then again, if we're helping her out, maybe we can convince her to turn a blind eye to it this one time."

"Or the second."

"And fifth." Fred snickered.

"Oi, what are you two doing this time?" Ron interrupted his brothers, it was an annoying habit he had picked up since he was no longer talking to Harry, and Hermione was finding every excuse she could think of to avoid the red-head.

"Why does ickle Ronniekin's want to know?" George asked.

"Is our youngest brother actually taking an interest in the finer things in life?" Fred added.

"Why yes Fred, I do believe he must be. I think we should write home and announce this to the family. Although, hang on."

"Does your girlfriend know that you wish to travel down this dark and dangerous path of pranks and jokes?"

"Hermione is NOT my girlfriend!" Ron snapped at his two brothers his face turning red.

"Well, thank Merlin for that. It is nice to know that she has some taste after all." George grinned as Ron's face got redder before he turned and stormed off muttering under his breath about annoying brothers and what he would do if he was an only child.

"Well that wasted a good few minutes," Fred sighed. "Do you really think it's true? Harry is bonded to those two Slytherin?" Fred asked looking at his brother.

"I don't know, maybe. Hermione isn't the type to play a joke like this, and no one has really seen Harry since Halloween. Except the few that went with him to class that one day he did go back." George leaned back against the outer wall of the three broomsticks looking up and down the street wondering where Hermione and Harry could be.

They didn't have much longer to wait as soon as Hermione came walking down the street moments later towards the three broomsticks; Harry at her side but completely hidden under his invisibility cloak.

"We were beginning to think that you ditched us." George pushed himself off the wall grinning at her. Though it faded when he looked around and didn't see Harry anywhere.

"It looks like Harry was the one who decided to ditch." Fred said also noticing the absence of the black haired boy.

"He's going to catch up to us later," Hermione explained. "For now, let's go somewhere else and talk though."

Fred and George looked glanced at each other then nodded letting Hermione lead the way, making their way past the most popular spots in Hogsmeade. It was getting closer to the holidays, so a lot of people were out trying to buy presents, or get ideas for friends and family. So while most of the stores were full, and the three broomsticks busy as it usually was, the three of them made their way towards the Hogshead.

Fred and George were silent for the walk, and even after they found a table to sit at in the out of the way pub. They ordered themselves something to drink so that the man behind the counter wouldn't have an excuse just to kick them out.

"Alright. So tell us, what is going on?" Fred asked, watching Hermione as she sat there trying to think of the best place to start.

"First, I think you should start. What do you think of Harry? Or rather, what do you think of his uncontrolled magic?" She questioned, looking at them very seriously. Whatever they told her now, she would judge them for it. Not that Fred or George had to worry much about that.

"There's not much to think about it," Fred started.

"Not everyone has perfect control over their magic, though going to school is supposed to help. I've heard of fully grown wizards who still have accidental magic," George added, "Is that why Harry is avoiding us now? Or is it..." George trailed off thinking about before, when he and Fred had intercepted Harry down by the lake, stopping him from talking to Ron.

"We wouldn't let Harry talk to Ron before. I suppose that would give him a reason to avoid us for a while," George sighed.

"I would imagine that would have played a large part in him avoiding you." Hermione looked at the bartender who put the drinks down on the table before stalking back over behind the bar. Hermione sipped at hers. "Why did you stop him from talking to Ron?"

"Ron has a big mouth," Fred said. "Harry had just gotten out of the hospital wing, after what happened on Halloween."

"Not to mention Ron is still pissed at Harry for attacking him." George told her as he took a sip of his own drink. "We thought it might have been best if Harry let Ron cool off more before trying to talk to him,"

"And before Ron used that big mouth of is to set Harry off again," Fred finished. Hermione looked as if she were thinking deeply once more.

"So, you never thought Harry attacked Ron on purpose?" Hermione asked. Both boys shook their head.

"That's not Harry's style. The only people I could ever see Harry attacking like that is You-Know-Who, or his followers," Fred said with a grin.

"Or Snape," George added.

Harry for his part had to hide the small snort of laughter at that comment. Not that it mattered any more, he was relieved that Fred and George didn't think he had attacked Ron, he didn't mind if they knew he was there now.

"So, we answered your questions," Fred said, looking at Hermione after glancing at the spot next to her. "You mentioned that you wanted our help with something."

"What do you two know about Magical bonds?" Hermione asked as softly as she could. Not that there was anyone in there that would overhear. But she didn't want to take any chances with Harry's secret about being bonded getting out and somehow make its way onto the front page of the Daily Prophet.

"Nothing much sadly," they said in unison.

"It's not exactly our subject of interest," Fred told her.

"Is Harry planning on bonding with someone?" George asked.

"More like, I'm trying to break a bond with someone," Harry said, though he didn't take his cloak off. Fred and George wore identical grins as they looked at the spot next to Hermione.

"We wondered when you'd speak up, Harry," Fred said still grinning at thin air.

"That cloak really comes in handy. Though, we're hurt you felt as if you had to hide from us," George said, leaning back in his seat.

"It's not just you," Harry said. "I still want to avoid people as much as possible. My magic...it isn't stable right now. But I'm working on it..." he added quickly.

"Is that why you're bonded to someone?" Fred asked.

"Who are you bonded to?" George asked.

Harry shook his head, not that anyone could see him. "I think...I'd rather not tell you that much right now. But, it's not a good bond. And it was an accident, none of us meant to make it. And...it's just getting in the way. So, we want to find out what it is, and then possible ways to break it."

"We don't know much about bonds, Harry. But, we do know that it's not easy to break a bond, even the weakest bond broken can leave lasting damage that neither person ever recovers from," George explained. "But we'll still help. You're like family to us, Harry."

"We thought the best place to start looking would be Tomes and Scrolls," Hermione told them before she explained their plan of trying to find out what the bond was first, and then find the safest way to break it, if it was even possible. From there Harry would need help controlling his magical outbursts. Fred and George offered to help with that as well. Also mentioning that they were going home for the holidays, and if nothing could be found here, then they would check Diagon Alley when they did their Christmas shopping.

The rest of their conversation was uneventful but easy, now that Harry knew he had the twin's support. Harry asked about how their joke shop was coming along, leading Fred and George to break into explanations about all their new projects, ignoring the disapproving looks from Hermione, though she said nothing against it because it was nice that Harry was enjoying himself again.

After leaving the Hogshead they went straight to the book store and asked where they hoped they could find the books on bondings. The shop keeper, after giving Hermione a curious look, showed her where the books could be found. Harry helped as much as he could, but was keeping the cloak on still. He was enjoying spending time with Hermione and the twins, but it was the other students that still had him wanting to stay hidden.

"I'm not finding anything here at all," Hermione said after flipping through one book that had looked promising.

"You could ask the shop keeper again," Fred suggested.

"I think he disapproves of me looking at these already, " Hermione said glancing over at where the shop keeper was busying himself setting up a new display. "I hate to think what he would do if I requested for a book that mentions bonds to multiple people," Hermione pointed out to Fred and George who blinked once, then burst out laughing.

"Are you embarrassed to be seen with us Hermione?" George asked putting an arm around her shoulder.

"We're quite hurt by that." Fred put his arm around her from the other side so she was now sandwiched between the two red-headed boys. She blushed brightly and ducked out from under the two of them. Harry couldn't help but laugh as well when the shop keeper noticed their antics and came over.

"Is there something specific you are looking for?" he asked looking between her and the Weasley twins.

"I am looking for a book, for a friend of mine, he's been bonded to two people and we were looking for a way to perhaps break the bond." Hermione said and the shop keeper gave her another look trying to decide if he believed her or not. The shop keeper took the book she was currently holding and put it back on the shelf.

"That young lady, is something you should go to the Ministry for. Or St. Mungo's. They have trained professionals there for a reason," he said, making it final that even if they did find something in this shop, he most likely would not let them buy it.

"Yes, of course. We were just hoping to get this done without going there," Hermione said but didn't argue any further when she felt Harry gently tug her arm leading her out of the shop. Fred and George followed behind them.

"Don't worry Harry. I'm sure we'll find something," Fred said as he and George positioned themselves on either side of where Harry was, "let's go to Honeyduke's and get you some candy to cheer you up a bit," George suggested.

"Right!" Fred agreed. "Nothing says feeling better like a sugar rush."

Harry snickered at this allowing the twins to lead him towards the candy shop that was, as always, packed. "I think it might be better if I just stay out here and wait. There's too many people in there," Harry said.

"I'll wait with you," Fred offered allowing Hermione and George to go in. Both of them stood there in silence for a while before Fred spoke. "You know, I am curious about what happened on Halloween. Though, you don't have to tell me, or anyone. But, Ron's not talking. I'm just worried about him."

"Are you sure you should have told me that?" Harry asked.

"I'm not worried about that getting back to Ron at the moment," Fred said, giving him a smile. "But really, Harry, George and I, we are worried about him."

"I didn't attack Ron." Harry said. "It was an argument, I guess one that carried over from last year...I still don't remember much of Halloween night, so that's all I can really tell you. We were having an argument, and I was tired and just wanted him to be quiet...after that, nothing." Harry sighed.

George and Hermione came back out of the shop looking as if they had had to fight their way through the crowed and back out again just to get the armful of treats they had.

"Alright, so now what? Should we take out stash back up to the castle?" George asked.

"I can't go back up yet," Harry said. "If something happens..." Harry trailed off when he caught the familiar sight of Blaise and Draco coming out of a nearby shop.

"Granger!" Draco said when he spotted her. "I thought you were supposed to be babysitting Potter?" He stormed over to her and Harry blinked looking surprised at how angry Draco seemed all of a sudden. Harry had to back away as Draco came closer, as the nearly overwhelming anger washed over him. But for once, the anger wasn't directed at him. Though he was still upset that Draco was angry at Hermione, Draco wasn't angry at HIM.

"Draco, calm down," Blaise said as he came up behind the blond and put a hand on Draco's shoulder. It almost seemed as if Blaise had the same calming effect on Draco's anger as he had on Harry's magic. "Granger, Draco does have a fair question. I thought you came here with Harry."

"I did. And if you two would stop drawing attention to us I would be able to tell you Harry is right here, only invisible. He really didn't want to come today and have everyone staring at him," Hermione snapped; glaring at Draco, who had been the one to yell at her.

"Hermione, it's okay. They don't know about this...well, I guess they do now." Harry said catching all their attention. "But we're going back up to the castle now," Harry said pushing past Blaise and Draco making sure to walk into Draco's shoulder rather hard as he did. When he did this though Draco gasped and leaned heavily on Blaise putting a hand on his head. Apparently Occlumency only worked so far. He had felt, briefly, how happy Harry had felt that Draco had not been mad at him.

Draco's reaction went unnoticed by everyone but Blaise, as they walked off in the direction of the castle, since that's where Harry had said he was going. They were sure to catch up to him eventually.

"Draco?" Blaise asked.

"I'm alright, but, I think I might be done shopping for today." Draco sighed. "Let's go back to our rooms." Draco smiled at Blaise, who smiled back and leaned down to kiss him, then lead him away back up to the castle.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

So here we are! Chapter 8! This one was a lot easier to write, though my poor beta reader. Lots of things to fix in this chapter, but it is now finished and ready for all you lovelies to read! I hope you enjoy it!

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 8

The second week in November started, and so did classes for Harry. He was happy to find out that with Hermione's help, he had not fallen as far behind as he thought. Most of the Professor's were glad for that as well, a little extra work and Harry would be fully caught up with everyone in his year; if he continued at the pace they had set for him, it wouldn't be long before Harry was further ahead than everyone other then Hermione. Harry was mostly sure that Hermione made it a point to finish up the school year before everyone else did.

It seemed that the only professor, that it was impossible for Harry to please, was Professor Snape. Honestly this did not surprise him in the least; man was never happy with Harry's work, despite the time and energy Harry put into it but it was hardly like this was a new thing.

The one-on-one lessons with the potions master were rapidly becoming something Harry hated vehemently. It was only rivalled by Harry's new found Occlumency lessons. He believed he hated them most of all, perhaps simply because he was expected to be down in Snape's office three times a week; three times a week, reliving memory after memory of his not so great childhood, his misadventures through the school, and of the nightmares he had experienced in his life.

Snape seemed to take great joy in informing Harry that he was even worse at Occlumency then at Potions, but Harry wasn't allowed to stop these lessons, he wasn't allowed to take a break from them for just a week, just long enough for the constant throbbing behind his eyes to go away.

No instead the weeks dragged on and he was given no choice but to continue with his classes. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Harry would be down the dungeons, being knocked down from the brutality of his lessons with Snape.

With his now overly packed lesson plan, Harry found that the end of November came quickly, and already the excitement for Christmas was streaming through the school, as the majority of the students could talk about nothing else but going home for two weeks. Harry was also looking forward to the Holidays; though he would no longer be going to the Burrow, thanks to Ron's attitude towards him.

Harry had decided that going there for two weeks was probably not the best idea; despite Fred and George telling him that their mother would straighten Ron out and make sure he didn't try anything. Harry did believe that, but it honestly wasn't Ron he was worried about though, it was his magic. If Ron pushed one to many of his buttons and Harry lost control at the Burrow, he was terrified that someone could be hurt. No it was much better to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, since he was fairly sure that Blaise was staying as well.

It was Saturday, and everyone was getting ready for the train ride back to kings cross so they could be home for Christmas Eve; all Harry had to do was get through today and then his vacation could start. No school and, far more excitingly, no Occlumency lessons for two whole weeks.

But even that prospect wasn't stopping Harry from trying to practice his Occlumency in the meantime, as bad as he was at it. He hated it because he couldn't, for the life of him, understand how it was supposed to be done. He was desperately trying to make progress, and follow the steps Snape had outlined again and again, as Draco's raised voice could be heard through his door once again. But that was ignored easily enough; the anger that was once again directed at him, for something not his fault, was exactly the reason why Harry was trying so hard to block Draco out completely.

"Draco, calm down already." Blaise snapped, getting fed up with Draco's attitude since the night before. He was getting more than a little worried about the effect Draco's mood swings were going to have on Harry. According to Draco, who had accompanied Harry to his last couple lessons with Snape, Harry was so bad at Occlumency, that he was surprised Snape was even wasting his time with the golden boy.

"No Blaise!" Draco continued to argue. "You were supposed to come back with me. You said-"

"I said I would be there for Christmas dinner," Blaise interrupted, "and I will be. I have permission to use the floo, and I will even arrive early if you want. But I am staying here for vacation." Blaise watched as Draco paused in his packing long enough to glare at him before he continued.

"Forgive me for thinking you actually might want to spend the Holidays with me," Draco growled, "I should have known that you would rather spend your time here with Potter. That's all you've been talking about since Halloween. It's Harry this, and Harry that." Draco's voice rose slightly as he said this, even though he wasn't quite yelling. Draco wanted to make sure that Harry could hear, as well as feel all the anger he had towards him right now.

"I told you why I am staying, Draco, and I will NOT have this argument with you again!" Blaise said in frustration as he glared at his boyfriend.

Over the past month, ever since Harry had been attending classes again and had started the special lessons with Snape, Blaise had noticed that Harry was starting to look more tired. This was particularly true on the nights he had Occlumency lessons and Blaise had found Harry more than once sitting in their common room in the middle of the night, either reading or just staring into the fire. His excuse was always that he just couldn't sleep.

"Just forget it then," Draco said in a huff. "I wouldn't want you to think spending Christmas with me is a chore, forgive me for thinking you cared enough-"

"Don't even finish that sentence, Draco Malfoy," Blaise said, cutting him off and fixing him with a fierce glare that made the blond stop cold. "You know damn well how I feel about you, so don't try your pathetic guilt trips on me. I told you last month, that I thought going back to your parent's house for the full holiday would be a bad idea; I will not always be there for you to hide behind whenever you want to avoid your father for a bit longer."

"I am not avoiding my father! If I was doing that, I wouldn't be going back for the Holidays," Draco pointed out. Even though the blond wasn't yelling it was easy for Blaise to see that Draco was still very upset.

Still hidden away in his room, Harry also knew that Draco was upset, even more so now than he had been just a moment ago. What Blaise had said to the blond had affected him and Draco was now mad at Blaise and Harry, both. So it came as no surprise when he heard the door across the hall slam shut as Draco left. Harry waited another moment or two, to make sure that Draco was gone from the common room as well, before he pulled himself off his bed and went to the door.

Opening it slightly, he looked out into the hallway. He saw Blaise standing there looking down the hall, and wondered if Blaise was going to go after Draco. It really wasn't the way to start off the holidays, and Harry couldn't help but feel that perhaps it was partly his fault they were fighting right now. Blaise must have heard Harry's door open, because he glanced over at him, he gave the smaller boy half a smile. Harry gave him an awkward smile back as he opened his door the rest of the way and stepped out into the hallway to join him.

"Sorry you had to hear that," Blaise said, and he really did feel sorry for Harry, knowing that he had to have heard the argument.

"I'm used to it," Harry said and Blaise raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, not you and Draco fighting, but Ron and Hermione fought a lot," he clarified. "And... it's never been a secret that Draco doesn't like me, so having it confirmed to be true," Harry gave a dismissive shrug, "I guess isn't all that bad." He smiled and Blaise shook his head.

"You know, that's not really something to smile about."

"I know. But there isn't anything I can do about it, so why worry?" Harry tried to explain."As soon as we find a book, this bond is going to be broken. Then things will go back to normal...well, mostly back to normal," Harry amended, thinking of Ron. Even if the red-head did do another about-face and realise that he was being an arse, Harry didn't think things could ever be the same between them. Not now anyway.

"I personally don't think it's that easy." Apparently Blaise was thinking similar thoughts to Harry, but more along the lines of; the bond, broken or not, was going to leave lasting affects for all of them. Though Blaise figured that in Draco's case it was likely that once the bond was broken the blond would go back to hating Harry, possibly even more so than he did now.

"No, but I like to be optimistic." Harry grinned.

"There is such a thing as being over optimistic," Blaise pointed out, smiling back at Harry.

"I know, but it's what keeps me going some days," Harry said, before he made his way down the hall to their small common room. Blaise followed him and sat down in one of the chairs closest to the fire as the two of them fell into an awkward silence.

Harry realised that, even though he had talked to Blaise more than he had Draco, this was the first time that the two of them had really been alone together, that didn't involve Harry's magic going crazy.

"You're really not going to go after Draco?" Harry asked after finding his own seat on the floor in front of the fire.

It was the one thing Harry hated most about winter, being as skinny as he was he got cold very easily; and on top of that he had never had any proper winter clothes, thanks to them all being at least four sizes too big for him. So his favourite place was always to sit right in front of the fire whenever he could.

"No, if I went after him we'd just argue some more. And I'll be going over there Christmas day to spend the day with him most likely," Blaise said and he couldn't help but notice the look of disappointment that crossed Harry's face, though it was hidden just as quickly as it appeared.

"What are your plans for the Holidays?" Blaise asked.

Harry just shrugged."I honestly don't know." Harry admitted. This was the first year since he started school that he would not be spending Christmas with Ron and his family. And he wouldn't be seeing Hermione until January either, since she was going home to see her own family for Christmas.

"Not one for planning?" Blaise asked and Harry shrugged again.

"I never found the point in planning for the Holidays." Harry sounded almost bitter as he said this. For him growing up, Christmas vacation was never something to look forward to; it was just another thing he was excluded from. And then at Hogwarts, he always had Ron, and Ron's family to spend the holidays with, and even Hermione.

Blaise sat in his chair and studied Harry, as the raven haired boy stared into the fire. There were so many things about the boy that Blaise didn't know, and was growing more curious about day after day. First there were the scars that he had seen on Harry before. He had not brought it up, since Harry had insisted he didn't want to talk about it, but Blaise had not truly stopped thinking about them. And then there were the nightmares that he knew Harry suffered from, despite the silencing charms; there were some nights that Harry forgot to put them up. The nightmares only seemed to happen after his Occlumency lessons, which Blaise thought was understandable. He figured Harry had his fair share of bad memories just from school; if he was forced to relive them during his lessons, it only made sense that he would dream about them later.

"You're not really one for talking," Blaise pointed out, catching Harry's attention again.

"Is... that a problem?" Harry asked looking at Blaise curiously.

"Not really, just making an observation, I guess. It's going to be a real quiet two weeks if we just sit here and not talk to each other." Blaise watched as Harry turned his attention back towards the fire.

"I've never really had anything worth talking about," Harry admitted. "And, there's not much point is there? I mean, after the bond is broken it's not like we'll still be on speaking terms," Harry didn't look at Blaise, so he missed the look of surprise Blaise was giving him.

"Are you really that thick?" Blaise shook his head. "Never mind. Look, Harry; even if we break this bond, that doesn't mean we can't spend the time getting to know each other now, and when it's broken... I'm not as shallow as some people, we don't have to just cut ties and walk away." Blaise leaned forward in his chair, Harry never once turned to look at him, but he did notice the way that Harry's whole body seemed to tense up as he talked.

"Harry," Blaise said, trying to get Harry's attention on him instead of the fire. But Harry still didn't move, though he was listening. Harry just didn't know how to take what Blaise had said. After the bond was broken, Draco would hate it even more if Blaise continued speaking with Harry.

"Why?" Harry finally asked.

"Why what?"

"Why are you trying so hard?" Harry finally looked away from the fire and locked eyes with Blaise. Blaise lost himself in those green eyes, they were the most brilliant and unique green eyes he had ever seen; Warm and vulnerable. Blaise knew that whatever he said now could affect things drastically between Harry and himself.

"Because Harry, I think you're worth it." Blaise chose his words carefully, trying to put as much feeling into that one sentence as he could. Harry studied him in silence before his attention was taken by the fire again.

Blaise didn't quite know how to take that, but before anything else could be said Harry shifted himself back until he was resting against Blaise's legs. Blaise smiled, running his fingers through Harry's hair and watching with amusement as Harry seemed to relax even more at his touch. It was then that he realized, over the past month and a half that he had been living in the same rooms as Harry, he still didn't truly know the other boy. He knew that Harry was very private and kept a lot of things to himself; there even seemed to be a lot that Granger, Harry's supposed best friend, didn't even know.

"So, Granger is going back for the holidays as well?" Blaise asked. Harry made a small noise of conformation nodding his head. "And you really have nothing planned for yourself for Christmas?"

"... No," Harry sighed. "I was supposed to go home with Ron, but..." Harry let that sentence trail off, there was no need to go into detail about why he wasn't going to the Burrow.

"Yeah, I suppose that would be a bit awkward." Blaise sighed, still running his fingers through Harry's hair as they fell back into a more comfortable silence this time.

**B**

Draco was still mad at Blaise; even as he walked into the manor, leaving his bag in the entrance hall for the house elves to take care of, before making his way up to his room to change. He was just on his first step heading up to his room when his mother stopped him.

"Draco, your father wishes to see you in his study once you are settled." Narcissa looked at her son, who merely nodded at her and continued on his way upstairs. She watched him go for a moment before turning and going to finish the last minute preparations for the Christmas Eve party that she was insisting on having this year; despite Lucius' demands that they cancel it.

**B**

Lucius sat in his study, nursing a glass of fire whiskey trying to figure out when things had started to go so horribly wrong for him and his family. He thought back to a few days ago, after the meeting with the Dark Lord, who had seemed far too interested in Draco's health and current life at Hogwarts. Lucius had assured him that Draco was well and awaiting the time when he could prove himself worthy of the Dark Mark.

Of course both Lucius knew that this was not true. Draco had made his complaint about it during the start of summer vacation, when it had been clarified by his father, and godfather, that Voldemort was indeed back. Most of Draco's family would be taking up their previous positions as Death Eaters, but Lucius didn't worry about that, he knew Draco would do as he was told whether he liked it or not his son would carry the Dark Mark as well.

But Lucius was still concerned; increasingly so as he thought back over the conversation he had had with Severus.

Severus had followed him into his study, after they had been dismissed by the Dark Lord and closed the door behind him; they couldn't afford to be disturbed given the nature of the things they had to discuss. Lucius had gone straight for a glass, filling it and downing the fire whiskey, before pouring himself another.

"You appear to be more on edge than usual," Severus had pointed out as he took his usual seat.

"I am surprised that you are not. The Dark Lord is being very secretive about his plans for my son." Lucius had offered Severus a glass as well, which the potions master politely declined. Lucius had taken his own seat before continuing."There is not even just a hint of what he has planned, so I can properly prepare Draco for it."

Severus had not been surprised about the worry in Lucius' voice; Draco was after all his only child and heir to the Malfoy line.

"Draco is a smart boy," Severus had told him sportively, "and when the time comes I believe he will do what he is supposed to do." Lucius had given him an unusual look before sighing and nodding.

"Of course, he is a Malfoy after all." Lucius had spoken as though the name Malfoy would still mean something after the war was over. "So, my friend, what is this favor you wished to ask of me?" Lucius had smiled knowing as he spoke, knowing full well how much Severus hated having to ask help from anyone.

"I wish to borrow a book from your library." Severus was always one to get straight to the point. He never did find much joy in dancing around the subject.

"Of course, you have access to the library. May I inquire which book it is you are looking for?"

"That is why I am asking you. I am looking for a book on bonding." Severus had had to put great effort into stopping himself from gritting his teeth as he said this; the things he did for his godson.

The curious request peeked Lucius' interest quite a bit. "Bonding? My dear friend, I had no idea that you were looking into settling down." Lucius had said with a laugh and Severus wished he had accepted the glass of fire whiskey.

"It is not for me, Lucius," Severus had hissed.

"Oh? And may I ask whom you intend to give this book to? I do after all like to know where my property is going," Lucius had asked with a smirk that had caused Severus to just roll his eyes.

"You can ask, but I cannot answer that. Though, I can reassure you that your property will not leave my possession." This was the only reason that Severus hated asking for anything from Lucius; in contrast to his own dislike for the dancing around the conversation, Lucius loved it, and loved irritating Severus with it.

"Well Severus, there are many books on bonding. If you tell me what kind of bonding information you are looking for, I will be able to point you to the best book to solve your problem." Lucius had leaned back in his chair to watch Severus with great interest, as his friend worked out the best words to describe what he was looking for.

"A bond that allows one control over another's magic, to a point," Severus had tried to explain. "And one that multiple people can enter into."

"That isn't much to go on now is it?" Lucuis had pointed out, a smile still on his face as he called a house elf to retrieve a specific book from the library for Severus. "That book should help; if it's not what you're looking for, please feel free to come back and raid my library." Lucius had watched as Severus took the book from the small elf, shrinking it to fit in his pocket. Severus had nodded once to Lucius before he turned and left.

The conversation had peaked Lucius' interest, as to what the potions master of Hogwarts was up to; though he had not had the time to look into things properly, he could now at least have a conversation with Draco and find out if he knew what Severus was up to.

**B**

Voldemort sat in the room that he had chosen as his own at Malfoy Manor. He could have been other places; he after all was the Dark Lord and was very busy. But no, he was here. Smirking to himself as he stroked the top of Nagini's head while she coiled herself around him and the chair he was currently sitting in. He was here, because of the youngest Malfoy. At first his interest in the boy had been nothing more than to see Lucius and his wife squirm, wanting so much to deny their Lord access to their only son. However now, his interest in the boy had changed, the young Malfoy may indeed prove himself useful, if the information he happened upon was to be believed.

He would wait and see though; he was nothing if not patient, biding his time until the opportunity to strike presented itself. So while he awaited his time with young Draco, Voldemort amused himself once again by invading Harry's mind.

This link between him and Potter, it was so delicious; the pain he could inflict. He could sense it, and Potter was powerless to stop him. Oh, he knew that the boy had been attempting Occlumency, a pitiful attempt at that, and Voldemort took pleasure in ripping down the walls that Harry managed to put up. And each time he did he would leave whispers for the boy and the useless child who could do nothing. It was so perfect being able to use those pitiful memories against him.

If Potter wasn't so dangerous to him, Voldemort knew that Harry would make a powerful ally, but that old fool had made sure to raise his pawn properly. No, Harry was too loyal to the light side, and it would be too dangerous to him to allow him to live.

As Voldemort leaned back in his chair, still stroking his snake's head, he closed his eyes and let the link between him and Potter open. He could see where the boy was, sitting in front of the fire. He could feel how relaxed he was, he could feel that someone cared for the boy. He would have to fix that soon. Closing the link and allowing Harry to have his time of peace, because it would only make it that much more rewarding to break him when the time came. To hear the famous Harry Potter, begging him for death.

**B**

Harry had been dozing in his spot on the floor, still resting back against Blaise. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this relaxed. He probably would have fallen asleep if his scar hadn't given a painful twinge making him tense slightly, preparing himself for what he thought was coming, but the sudden pain didn't increase as expected, making him sigh in relief.

"Harry? You okay?"

"Yeah." Harry looked up at Blaise. "I was falling asleep though...actually," he said as he poked at his foot. "I think my foot fell asleep." He grinned and Blaise laughed, shaking his head.

"That's what you get for sitting on the floor," Blaise told him as he slowly scooted Harry away so he could sand up. Stepping around the younger teen, he held out his hand for Harry to take and, after a moment's hesitation, Harry took it, stumbling against Blaise when his foot, and whole leg throbbed with pins and needles while the blood rushed back down to it.

Blaise kept his arms around Harry holding him up. "Um...thanks," Harry said blushing as he pushed away from Blaise.

"Not a problem, Draco can be just as bad sometimes. Sitting in the same position so long his whole leg looses circulation. Last time that happened I carried him around for forty five minutes before he demanded to be put down." Blaise grinned at that memory and Harry blinked also remembering that day. He hadn't asked what was going on, since he still felt like the intruder here. And technically he was.

Harry suddenly found the floor very interesting as he thought about how mad Draco would be at him for getting even closer to Blaise.

"Don't worry about it Harry," Blaise said and when Harry looked at him in surprise, Blaise smiled. "I don't know what you're thinking, but whatever it is that is making you make that face, don't worry about it."

"But..." Harry started but Blaise put a finger against Harry's lips.

"It's the Christmas holidays, so, stop worrying about stuff for two weeks. And enjoy yourself. I'll be here with you as well." Blaise found that he really liked it when Harry smiled at him like that. It was then that Blaise realized how rare it was that Harry's smiles actually reached his eyes.

"What do you say we go raid the kitchens or something?" Blaise suggested in an attempt to prolong Harry's good mood.

"I think I could go for some hot cocoa," Harry agreed, giving Blaise another genuine smile as he followed him out of their rooms. Perhaps these two weeks weren't going to be so bad after all, he decided.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 9

It had taken Draco a lot longer than anticipated to make it down to his Father's study. But Lucius was still there waiting when Draco knocked on the door.

"Enter," Lucius called through the door. Draco took a deep breath and pushed the door open, stepping inside the room.

"Good evening, Draco," Lucius greeted his son, sounding no different than he would if he were greeting a business partner.

"Good evening, Father. Mother mentioned that you wished to speak with me." Draco stated calmly, trying to take on the same tone his father used with him. It was something Draco was used to by now. He was also used to the unpleasant conversations that usually followed when his Father greeted him in such a way.

Lucius motioned for his son to have a seat, waiting as Draco closed the door and took his seat in front of him.

"I take it the train ride home was pleasant enough?" Lucius began. Draco stared at his Father for a moment before he nodded.

"Yes father, as pleasant as that train ride usually is," Draco tried not to sound bored as he said this, but he knew that his Father didn't truly care about how enjoyable the train ride had been.

"Yes, if I remember it is quite a noisy way to travel," Lucius said dismissively as he leaned forward in his chair folding his hands in front of him as he studied his son. "and school, how are you fairing with your studies?" This earned Lucius a raised eyebrow from Draco.

"Father?" Draco asked, not quite sure why his father was asking him about school; as far as he knew Lucius never cared, so long as Draco remained top of his class. Or at least nearly top of his class.

"I am merely curious, you have not sent a single owl home since you left in September. At least I have not received one," Lucius knew that Narcissa had at least been corresponding with their son, and that was the only way that Lucius knew that Draco was still doing well in school, however even she stopped receiving letters from Draco right after Halloween.

"I am sorry father, I have been busy with my studies," Draco lied easily, he had been no more busy with his studies then he had been in previous years but he doubted the truth was the way to go in this discussion.

"I see," Lucius smirked at his son. "And would these studies happen to involve research into bonding magic?" Lucius watched his son closely, Draco had always been far too easy to read. Despite all the time and energy that Lucius had put into trying to teach him how to hide behind the 'Malfoy mask'.

"Why do you ask that?" Draco asked, his mind running a mile a minute. Had his Father somehow found out about the bond between himself, Blaise and Harry? Draco couldn't help but think of all the ways his father would use that against him; and, even worse than that, what if his father told HIM about it? That thought alone had Draco paling and folding his hands in his lap to stop them from shaking.

"Perhaps you should tell me why I should be asking that question," Lucius thought his son's reaction to the question a little strange, if his son wanted to look into bonding Lucius didn't mind. In fact he had insisted that Draco learn about that before he had even entered Hogwarts. But Draco's reaction suggested that he was hiding something. Was he keeping a secret for Severus? While Lucius did not object to secret keeping per se, he did take issue with his son keeping secrets from him.

"I really couldn't say, Father," Draco said, looking down at his lap hoping that Lucius wouldn't call him on his very obvious lie. But he could not and WOULD not tell Lucius about the bond.

"I see," Lucius said thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair to observe Draco. "Well, I just found it interesting that your godfather was here looking for a book on bonding. I thought perhaps you might know something about why he needed that book." Lucius let that sentence hang and continued to watch his son. Draco was now refusing to look at him at all. Yes, there was definitely more going on here. But Draco could be as suborn as his mother at times, and would not let any more information slip tonight. Not unless Lucius used force and he didn't believe the situation called for such drastic measure just yet.

"You may go," Lucius dismissed him, earning a look of surprise from Draco.

Draco couldn't believe that he was getting out of this conversation so easily, but he would question his Father's reasons later, once he was out of his office and away from his far too observant gaze. So Draco stood and made his way to the door fighting back the instinct to run from the office.

"And Draco." The coldness in his father's voice made him stop, his hand on the doorknob. "I suggest you re-think your reasons for lying to me." The unsaid threat hung in the air. His Father did not tolerate anyone lying to him, and especially not his own son. That had never stopped Draco from trying though.

Draco said nothing as he opened the door, stepped out and closed it quietly behind him. He walked as calmly as he could back up to his room, his heart pounding far too quickly in his chest, where he closed the door and collapsed against it. He was shaking and couldn't seem to stop himself. He wanted Blaise here now; he regretted fighting with him. Perhaps if he hadn't argued with him, Blaise would have agreed to come with him and at least stayed until right after Christmas.

Mentally beating himself up for being stupid, Draco tried not to think what his father was going to do to find out the truth; it seemed inevitable that he would find out eventually, but Draco still wanted to hold that off as long as possible. Draco pulled himself up off the floor and went to shower before bed. It had been a long day and he wanted tomorrow to be here quickly so he could spend the day avoiding his Father. Draco let out a bitter laugh as he remembered Blaise's words; the other boy would be happy to know that he was right, Draco was using him to hide from his Father.

**B**

Blaise and Harry had raided the kitchen successfully; Harry got his hot cocoa and Blaise got himself some snacks before they retreated back to their common room. They had sat in silence much like they had earlier, in front of the fire. Only this time Blaise had pulled Harry to sit next to him on the small sofa.

"It will take your leg longer to fall asleep this way," was the argument Blaise had made, pulling a blanket over Harry when he complained about being cold. Harry smiled at him and returned to watching the fire while Blaise grabbed a nearby book and started reading it. Half an hour had passed before he realised he had not made it off the first page, since his eyes kept wandering in Harry's direction, studying him as if Harry were a puzzle he couldn't quite figure out.

If Harry noticed Blaise staring at him, he made no comment about it. He just sat there with the blanket wrapped around him as he slowly sipped his cocoa until the cup was empty. When Blaise decided once again to try and at least read the first page of the book, his attention was drawn, once again, to Harry when the other boy let out a startled noise.

"What is it?" Blaise asked looking around to see what had made Harry react in such a way.

"My cup's full again," Harry said with a smile and sipped at his now full cup of cocoa. Blaise stared at him with a rather confused expression and Harry laughed realising how strange he must have just sounded to Blaise, who was probably used to cups of cocoa refilling themselves. "Cups don't refill themselves in the muggle world," Harry explained.

"I still don't see why that's something to be surprised about. You've been in the magical world for more than a little while now, shouldn't you be used to stuff like that?" Blaise asked as he smiled back at Harry.

"It's...hard to explain," Harry admitted reluctantly, his smile fading as he looked down at his cup. There was no way to explain it without going into at least some detail about how he had been raised. There were still times that Harry expected to wake up and still find himself in the cupboard under the stairs; that he would wake up and find out that all of this was a dream. Harry couldn't stop the shudder that ran through him at that thought. He took another sip of his cocoa.

"And you're not going to explain I are you?" Blaise asked when Harry didn't offer any more information. Harry shook his head.

"Nope," Harry said looking at Blaise again. "It is a long complicated story, that I don't really want to talk about," Harry put his half empty cup of cocoa on the table before standing up.

"I think I'm going to head to bed now," Harry told him when he decided that perhaps right now it would be best to retreat to his room, before Blaise could question him some more. He was running away from a conversation that might or might not happen. But he was glad that Blaise let him go.

"You are a very interesting person, Harry Potter," Blaise said quietly to the empty room, once he heard Harry's door close. The list of things that Harry 'didn't want to talk about' seemed to be growing. Maybe Blaise could get something more out of him during the next two weeks? He was determined to at least try.

**B**

It was early morning when Draco dragged himself out of bed and got himself ready for the day. He knew he would not be able to avoid his Father all day but he would do so as much as possible. It wasn't likely to help that he had not slept well at all. His mind had been to occupied with what would happen if his Father, or anyone else, found out about the bond. Then there was the sinking feeling, that Draco just couldn't shake, that maybe Lucius already knew about the bond, and just wanted Draco to confirm it for him.

Draco was actually fairly sure that his Father did not know about the bond yet; the blond expected that he would be in quite a lot of pain right now if that secret had been discovered. But it did mean that breaking the bond had now become even more of a priority for Draco. It would save himself, and Blaise, a lot of trouble in the end.

Thinking about Blaise had Draco thinking that maybe he could ask Blaise to come earlier then tomorrow. Though if Draco was going to do that, then he would have to apologise for their argument yesterday, and that was not something Draco was looking forward to.

Draco left his room once he thought himself presentable and made his way down to the dining hall. It was still quite early, even for him, butut he knew that both his parents would most likely be awake.

Sure enough both Lucius and Narcissa were seated in the dining hall, Lucius had a copy of the daily prophet open on the table as he ate his breakfast.

Draco smiled at his mother and said good morning as he sat down next to her, only mumbling a greeting to his Father. A plate appeared on the table for Draco and he started eating slowly. He desperately wanted to glance over at his Father, who had completely neglected to even acknowledge him, but he stubbornly kept his eyes on his breakfast. He didn't want to look any more guilty than he knew he already had in the study the evening before.

"Draco, dear, will Blaise be joining us for the party tonight?" his mother questioned and Draco turned his attention to her.

"I honestly don't know, Mother. I was hoping I could attempt to contact him later. As far as I know he was only planning on being here for our dinner tomorrow," Draco said looking back down at his plate of food.

"That should be fine. Let me know as soon as you do," Narcissa said as she smiled at her son. She could sense the tension between Lucius and Draco quite well, but like always, she simply left it alone; if they wanted her involvement they would have to ask for it.

Draco forced himself to eat a bit more food before his already meagre appetite left him completely and he pushed his plate away and excused himself from the table.

"Draco." His father's voice stopped him, and Draco looked over at the older blond man who still did not look at him. "We currently have an important guest staying in the house. It would be in your best interest if you did not disturb him," Lucius said. There was no question as to who he was talking about, and Draco found himself wishing that he had listened to Blaise and stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays.

"Yes, Father," he replied politely, leaving the dining hall. He made his way out into the back garden where he could be alone. He would wait until later to use the floo, deciding that perhaps he could ask his godfather to relay the invitation to Blaise.

**B**

For the first time in a while, Harry had decided he was going to try and sleep in. He had nothing he had to do today, and the lack of sleep he had been getting was definitely taking its toll on him. So when the first stream of sunlight came in through his window, Harry pulled a pillow over his head in an attempt to fall back asleep, pretending he didn't hear the knock on his door, nor Blaise letting himself in.

Blaise watched as Harry pulled the pillow tighter around his head. That didn't stop Blaise from removing the pillow, grinning down at Harry as the black haired boy glared at him. "You're going to suffocate yourself if you sleep that way," he said sounding amused.

"Maybe I want to suffocate myself," Harry said, making a grab for his pillow. Blaise side stepped him and moved around the bed to get out of reach before Harry could make another grab at him.

"I doubt that very much. It's time to get up," Blaise said, trying not to laugh as Harry did make another grab at the pillow, before giving up and flopping back down on his bed. Harry grabbed the second pillow he had on his bed and pulled that one over his head instead.

"To early. More sleep." Harry's voice was muffled while he pressed the pillow against his face, Blaise also tried to snatch from him. Only Harry had a pretty good grip on this one.

"Professor Snape needs to talk to us," Blaise said. "It sounded important."

Harry groaned, that was definitely not something worth getting out of bed for. "So you go, find out what he wants and tell me when it's actually time to wake up," Harry suggested. He sat up, pulling on his pillow trying to get it out of Blaise's grasp. With an evil smile Blaise let go of the pillow, Harry yelped as he toppled backwards off the bed landing on his side, the pillow on the floor next to him.

"You did that on purpose!" Harry accused, sitting up and rubbing his shoulder that had hit the floor.

"Well, got you out of bed didn't it?" Blaise pointed out. "Come on, I want to see what Professor Snape wants, then we can get some breakfast." Blaise tossed Harry's other pillow back onto the bed and made his way towards the door so Harry could have some privacy to get dressed. He stopped in the doorway however and looked at Harry who was picking himself up off the floor.

"Before you decide to get back in bed, Professor Snape is actually waiting for both of us in the common room," he said, ignoring the glare that Harry sent towards him and leaving, closing the door behind him. Blaise waited outside Harry's door for a moment until he heard movement, waiting a moment longer to make sure that Harry wasn't actually getting back in bed. Once he was fairly sure the Gryffindor really was getting dressed, Blaise turned and went back to the common room.

In his room, Harry waited for Blaise to close the door, debated about just going back to sleep but knew the last thing he wanted was for Snape to come in and get him out of bed. Leave it to Snape of all people to ruin the start of winter break. Rubbing his eyes trying to make them feel less heavy and tired Harry got himself dressed, knowing that even after he talked to Snape, the chances of getting back to bed for some more sleep were very unlikely.

Out in the common room Snape stood by the entrance waiting for Blaise to bring out Harry so he could speak to the both of them, wanting to get this over with instead of having to wait until later to track them both down separately.

Looking in the direction of the hallway when he heard a door. Raising an eyebrow when a moment later Blaise came back into the common room by himself.

"He's getting dressed, Sir," Blaise informed him, not intimidated by Snape's sour mood. He had spent enough time around the potions master to know that Snape was always in a bad mood about something.

"I do not have all day to stand here and wait while Potter makes himself presentable for his public," Snape growled. He looked over towards the hallway when they heard Harry's bedroom door again, and a few seconds later the black haired boy appeared in the entrance to the common room.

"I am glad you found it worth your time to get out of bed," Snape sneered at him. Harry clenched his fists but made no comment as he went over to stand next to Blaise.

"What did you want to talk about, Sir?" Blaise asked once Harry was standing next to him. Snape said nothing as he took something out of his pocket and enlarged it. It was a large thick book. Blaise stood there looking at it before he realised what it was. "Thank you, Sir, this should definitely help," Blaise said as he took the book from the Professor and put it on the table next to the sofa to read later.

Harry also looked at the book. "I had to get out of bed for a book?" he asked looking confused. Why couldn't Snape have just given Blaise the book?

"I am also here to inform you Potter that, even though it is the holidays, I still expect you to be in my office tonight for our Occlumency lessons," Snape watched Harry's reaction knowing that the boy would not be pleased about this in the slightest, after all Snape wasn't happy about it either.

"Before you start your insufferable whining about how unfair it may be, Dumbledore has instructed that we continue with your lessons through the holidays," Snape continued looking down at Harry.

"But why tonight?" Harry asked not happy about this at all.

"Because some of us enjoy spending Christmas away from school. Our lesson shall be this evening at five p.m., and if you do not show up for your lesson, you will be starting the new year with detention," Snape continued looking down his nose at Harry, silently daring him to argue with anything he had just said. When the boy wisely kept his mouth shut, Snape glanced at Blaise. The Italian boy did not seem to happy about the way Snape had just spoken to Harry, but also remained silent. Snape, satisfied that neither of them had anything to say to him, turned and left the room.

Harry waited until Snape was gone before he turned and practically ran back to his room. Sighing, Blaise turned to follow him, only to have himself nearly run down as Harry came storming back holding his broom. Blaise grabbed Harry's arm and stopped him.

"Are you at least going to dress properly before you go flying?" Blaise asked. Harry didn't look at him, but didn't pull his arm free right away.

"I just need some fresh air," Harry said as he pulled away and hurried out the door before Blaise could stop him again.

Shaking his head, Blaise went back to his room, grabbing his own cloak and stopping in Harry's room to grab his as well before following the smaller boy. Pausing and turning back and Blaisegrabbed the book Snape had given him as an afterthought before exiting their common room. Blaise had seen Harry fly once before when he had been upset, it would probably be a smart idea to be ready to be outside for a while.

When Blaise got outside he sighed when he saw someone, who could only be Harry, already down at the pitch.

"Probably didn't even wait until he was down there to start flying," Blaise grumbled, making his way across the grounds, pulling his cloak tightly around him as a cold December wind came out of nowhere.

Looking up at the sky as he walked, it was a grey cloudy day, he thought that it would most likely snow at some point today. Letting out another sigh, he couldn't help but wonder how Harry could fly on a day like this.

Blaise made it down to the pitch and looked up at Harry, wondering if he would be able to get Harry's attention long enough to give him the cloak. But Harry wasn't even looking down at the ground, so Blaise went and found himself a seat, casting a warming charm around his small area he opened the book and settled himself down for what was promising to be a long day.

Harry flew around the pitch as if he were trying to get away from something. He let the wind whip around him, the cold making his eyes water. But he pushed his broom to fly faster.

He was angry, he should have guessed that his Occlumency lessons, not being part of his normal school work, would not have stopped because it was winter break. He knew that Dumbledore wanted him to learn to protect his mind, and not only because it would help him with the bond, but it would keep unwanted dark wizards from invading his thoughts.

Harry couldn't help but think that maybe he would be better at Occlumency if he had a different teacher other than Snape. The potions Professor had seen far too many of Harry's thoughts and memories. Though the less pleasant ones Harry had managed to keep away from him for now.

Harry flew even faster, trying to out-fly his thoughts. 'Focus on flying,' he told himself over and over.

**B**

Draco was surprised that he had managed to avoid his father all morning, then again it was usually his mother that would come and spend time out in the garden, so long as Draco staid out there it was fairly easy to avoid any more unpleasant conversations and questions that he didn't want to answer.

It was nearing lunch time when Draco decided to finally head back inside. He had spent most of the time in the one part of the garden that his Mother kept a warming charm over knowing that Draco liked to spend more time out there then she did. The last thing she wanted was her son to catch cold because he didn't feel like coming inside. Of course, she did have reason to worry about that since it had happened more than once.

Draco smiled to himself at the memory of his mother putting up the charm every winter for him. He supposed it was more of a habit for her now, more than anything.

As Draco made his way inside he looked around at the decorations that the house elves had put up that morning, he was honestly surprised that they would still be having the Christmas eve party, even with a certain guest in the house. It was that thought that had Draco heading towards the study to use the floo. He had to make sure that Blaise was going to be there tonight.

He took some floo powder and tossed it into the fire place. "Severus Snape's Office, Hogwarts," He said as the flames shot up.

"Uncle Severus?" He asked as he put his head into the green flames.

"What is so important that it could not wait until I arrived there this evening?" Snape asked from where he was standing over a cauldron stirring, he didn't even bother to glance up at his godson..

"I wanted to ask, if you could bring Blaise with you?" Draco asked hopefully. "Or if you could go get him...And I can ask him to come with you?" There was a long silent pause during which Snape lifted his head up from the potion he was busy with and glared at Draco.

"And you could not have asked him this before you left?" Snape grumbled and Draco smiled innocently as he could.

"We had a fight." Draco said simply.

"I am your godfather, Draco, not your messenger," Snape said, sounding annoyed, but Draco had known that it would be a long shot to ask his godfather to do this. Even though Snape had his own way of showing Draco he cared about him, it did not include getting involved in his love life.

"I know, I just really need him here today, Uncle Severus," Draco said with a pitiful sigh. There was another pause from Snape and his black eyes narrowed further.

"We will be there at six tonight," Snape said curtly, catching Draco by surprise.

"Thanks, Uncle Severus," Draco couldn't help the wide smile that spread across his face.

"If there is nothing truly urgent, I have a potion to finish brewing," Snape said curtly and with a wave of his wand pushed Draco backwards and snapped the floo connection closed. Draco was far too used to him doing that to be truly bothered; it was hard to concentrate on brewing potions with someone there talking to you.

He felt only slightly less nervous then he had before, but knowing that even if Blaise didn't come, that his godfather would be there tonight. And Snape would at least be able to distract Lucius.

Draco stood up from the floor dusting himself off from any soot that might have gotten on his robes, he looked around the study before deciding the best way to continue avoiding his Father for the rest of the day was to offer to help his mother with any last minute party planning, not a task that Lucius Malfoy would ever lower himself to.

**B**

It must have been all the times he had flown during the cold weather, he had gotten used to it; that was the only way Blaise could think of for Harry being able to stay up in the air as long as he had. It was pushing two hours and Blaise had skimmed through half the book, leaving little markers in spots he thought might have information of use. He knew he would have to read through the whole thing later when his attention wasn't divided between the book and keeping an eye on Harry.

Harry's flying didn't seem to be as fast as it had been before. Now the other boy was just flying almost lazily around the pitch. Blaise allowed this to continue for another fifteen minutes as he made a few more marks in the book and then finally set it aside. The snow had started falling, and Harry had been up there more than long enough.

"Harry!" Blaise called from the ground trying to get his attention.

Harry had worn himself out with how fast and long he had been flying. He had kept up his quick past for nearly an hour before he started practising some of his tricks that he hoped he would be able to use in the next game. Though that did depend on if he was still on the team. But that was just yet another thing to worry about later if it came up.

Right now Harry just didn't want to go back down to the ground. Even though he saw Blaise trying to get his attention. Staying up here meant he could avoid thinking about things for a little while longer; he didn't want to let reality back in; a reality filled with blonds who hated him and snarky potions masters who he had to have Occlumency lessons with but when he saw Blaise turn heading towards where the school brooms were kept, Harry sighed and landed down in front of Blaise.

"About time," Blaise said looking Harry over. Harry was thoroughly wind-blown. The normal messy black hair was sticking in every direction it could, Harry's cheeks were bright red from the cold, and Blaise noticed that Harry's lips seemed to have a slight tint of blue to them.

Blaise gave a simple flick of his wand summoning Harry's cloak from the bench, he draped it around Harry. "Let's go inside," he instructed.

"Yeah." Harry pulled the cloak tighter around himself. He hadn't realised how cold he was, but now that he had stopped moving it seemed he could feel it more. Holding his broom tightly, and trying to stop his teeth from chattering, Harry and Blaise walked back up to the school side by side. They were halfway there when Harry felt extra weight around him, looking at his shoulders then at Blaise who was easily wrapping his own cloak around Harry as well.

Harry gave Blaise a small grateful smile and they continued the walk back up to the school in a comfortable silence. Harry decided that he would worry about the Occlumency lessons later.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 10

Harry spent the rest of the day sitting in front of the fire. He loved flying, even when he got this cold. It wasn't until he felt someone gently shaking him that he realized he must have fallen asleep at some point.

Blinking Harry rubbed his eyes before reaching out to try and locate where his glasses were. There was a soft chuckle as someone handed them to him.

"What time is it?" Harry asked looking up at Blaise.

"It's just about four. I thought you would want time to wake up and eat something before you had to go down to Professor Snape's office." Blaise said, watching as Harry flopped back onto the sofa where Blaise had moved him to, after it became apparent that the Gryffindor was falling asleep on the floor in front of the fire.

"You could have been nicer, and just let me sleep through the blasted lesson," Harry grumbled, pulling himself up off the sofa, wincing at the dull throbbing that was starting just behind his eyes.

"No, that's not nice, that's signing your death warrant," Blaise with a chuckle as he moved back to the chair he had been occupying since that morning.

"Is that your subtle way of telling me to get up before Snape comes looking for me?" Harry asked, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Perhaps," Blaise said with a shrug. "Or maybe I just don't want to find myself on his hit list. I am dating his godson after all," he reminded Harry.

"I still don't know how you do that, let alone how you've managed to put up with Draco for so long," Harry commented before he could stop himself. He regretted the words as soon as he spoke them, not even sure where they had actually come from either. Though it was no secret that even bonded Draco and Harry still didn't get along. Blaise sighed closing his eyes, Harry wondered if Blaise was angry at him.

"Look, Harry. I know Draco can be difficult, and I can sit here and tell you why I love him. But the thing is, you don't love him, and if not for the bond you would still hate him, so I don't think you would understand, even if I did tell you," Blaise looked over at Harry, who was now staring at the floor, his hands clenched tightly in his lap.

Blaise had only been truthful, he did love Draco, even during the times that the blond was selfish, self-centred, prat. But what Blaise said, and the way he said it only seemed to hammer home how much Harry really wasn't wanted here. Even if Blaise hadn't meant it that way, and though Harry did believe that Blaise meant it when he had said he wouldn't just break the bond and never speak to Harry again. But the fact would remain that, he himself would never be truly wanted.

"Harry," Blaise began again, but Harry cut him off quickly.

"I'm going to get some dinner before it gets too late, wouldn't want to be late for my Occlumency lessons," he said in a rush, and ran from the common room before Blaise could stop him. That didn't stop Blaise from going after him though.

Blaise easily caught up with Harry; even if Harry was the fastest person on a broom that the school had seen in quite some time, Blaise was still faster on foot. He managed to grab Harry.

"We seem to be making a habit out of this Harry." Blaise said while Harry tried to pull himself away. "Now stop it and talk to me."

"Let me go," Harry said pulling at his arm harder, but Blaise refused to let go. He spun Harry and pinned him against a nearby wall trapped next to a stone statue with Blaise towering over him.

"Not until you tell me what's wrong," Blaise said, looking down into those green eyes that were wide, and franticly looking for a way to escape. "Harry," he demanded.

"You love Draco," Harry said quickly averting his eyes to avoid looking at Blaise a little longer.

"Yes, I thought that much was obvious," Blaise said, his voice was laced with confusion trying to piece together what about that fact had upset Harry.

"I just, I never realised...um...how much you...you and Draco, you never say it. I've never heard you say you love him before. So I didn't realise, how much you did," Harry told him, finally chancing a look at Blaise, who was smiling at him, or maybe just smiling at what Harry had said.

"You got upset because of how much I love Draco?" Blaise asked, and Harry shook his head.

"No...I just, I don't want to talk about it. Can we let it go?" Harry asked frowning when Blaise shook his head.

"Harry, you have a lot of stuff you 'don't want to talk about'. Did it ever occur to you that if you talked about them, it might help?" Blaise continued towering over Harry, it always surprised him how small the other boy was, even though they were supposed to be the same age.

"I don't like talking, it never helps as much as people say it does," Harry said bitterly.

"Well, I'm not letting you go until you give me a good reason why you're upset about me loving Draco. Is it because of the bond? I know it's difficult to keep track of what emotions were originally yours-"

"It's not the bond," Harry said, cutting him off.

"You're not picking up back lash from Draco are you?" Blaise frowned, it made a small amount of sense that Harry would be able to feel how Draco felt about Blaise. But even then, Harry could always tell what was Draco's anger and what was his own.

"No, it's nothing to do with the bond at all," Harry said, trying to dart out of an opening he saw between Blaise and the statue, only to be caught and cornered again.

"Then what?" Blaise's voice rose slightly, the first time since the bond had started.

"Because you'll never love ME like that!" Harry shouted at him, and then ran once again. And this time Blaise let him. There was absolutely nothing he could say to that.

Harry ran as fast has he could, even if Blaise wasn't following him. He couldn't believe what he had just said. He had meant to say that no one had ever loved him. But instead he had singled Blaise out. Blaise would never love him, the bond would be broken, and any feelings that they may, or may not, have for each other would go with it.

Any thoughts of eating dinner were now gone, so Harry made his way down to Snape's office and sat on the floor outside of the door. He didn't want to go inside until it was time for his lesson to begin. So he spent the remaining hour there, trying to focus and see about clearing his mind like Snape was always telling him to do. Of course, that was easier said than done for Harry who couldn't seem to stop thinking. It seemed even more difficult when he so desperately wanted to.

The hour passed by much faster than Harry would have liked. Because his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"Sorry, Sir," Harry said, standing up and dusting himself off. "I was trying to practice clearing my mind." Harry didn't know why he felt the need to explain himself, maybe he just wanted to show Snape that he was trying his best at this.

"And failing at it, as usual," Snape sneered, stepping aside to allow Harry into his office. Now avoiding looking at the potions master, Harry made his way into the office, standing in his usual spot. The spell hit him unexpectedly from behind, and he felt himself falling forward as images played through his mind.

Everything he had just been thinking of, or trying not to think of as the case may be, was played out vividly. What he had just said to Blaise, how much he wished he could have what Blaise and Draco had, even just for a moment. Thinking what it must be like to feel loved.

These thoughts were quickly followed by those of his uncle towering over him.

"worthless freak!" the words echoed painfully in his mind.

"Stop," Harry pleaded along with the memory of himself. He wanted everything to stop. And then it did.

He was laying on the floor, a familiar position during these lessons. If that's what he could even call them. He couldn't bring himself to look at Snape, knowing that the cruel smile would be there. The man took far too much pleasure out of tormenting his students.

"Sir, maybe we could do this some other time?" Harry asked as he started to pull himself up. Only to have the spell hit him again.

He was eleven years old again, his first view of Hogwarts. He had made his first friend, maybe he wasn't as worthless as his uncle always told him?

He was fifteen again, in the great hall. A vacation, his first one ever. He had plenty of money that if Ron and Hermione couldn't cover the cost, he would. But Ron had been temperamental about money since last year.

"It must be nice to forget you have so much money!" Ron was yelling at him, other's at the Gryffindor table were looking at them. "I bet you didn't even notice it when you added Cedric's winnings to it last year."

He was being cornered by Ron Dean and Seamus. "Why did you kill Cedric?"

"I didn't, I didn't kill him!" Harry yelled to the memory of Ron. Harry was no longer fighting against the invasion on his mind, letting the memories come one by one. Noticing this Snape stopped the spell, looking at the pitiful child curled up on his floor.

"Get up, Potter." Snape said, frowning when the boy didn't even move. Harry lay there feeling unable to move. He couldn't do this, not today.

"Potter," Snape said, and Harry waited for the insults that surprisingly never came. "Get up, Potter," Snape ordered again. Harry continued laying where he was for a moment longer, until he heard Snape taking a step forward, most likely to pull him up anyway. Harry slowly lifted himself up.

Now standing, he faced the potions master, but did not look at him. His whole body tense as he waited for the spell again. Maybe Snape just enjoyed seeing him fall over. It was the only thing Harry could think of, why else would Snape want him standing before the spell hit?

"Look at me," Snape growled. Harry glared at him, silently daring the potions master to do his worst. Snape pointed his wand at Harry again, and once again Harry's mind was filled with images.

Snape was glaring at him, he was only eleven years old and this man had signaled him out from everyone else in the class. "Clearly fame isn't everything."

He was famous, but he didn't want it. No one ever saw that. "Get in here boy!"  
"I will not have your freakishness in my house!"

"Kill the spare!"

"Harry, take my body back."

"STOP IT!" Harry screamed and Snape was blasted back by an unseen force. Harry was panting feeling like he had just run for miles, but he didn't seem to be able to catch his breath. There was a weight in his chest, one that wouldn't go away.

"You stupid child," Snape hissed pulling himself up, his arm hanging at a strange angle and Harry knew it was broken, having broken his own arm more than once. He stared at the potions master.

"Sir, I didn't-"

"Get out. Your lesson is finished for today," Snape growled, and Harry didn't know if he should really leave. But he didn't want to stay here any longer either. So before Snape could change his mind about letting Harry go, he left. Though he didn't run, he felt tired and sluggish as his mind helpfully supplied other memories that Snape had not seen.

Harry was in no rush to make it back to his rooms, knowing that Blaise would be waiting there and he would most likely have to talk to the Italian. Blaise however was not in the small common room when Harry arrived.

"The only thing that's gone right today." Harry mumbled to himself going to his room and closing the door behind him.

**B**

Blaise had returned to the common room after Harry ran off, hopefully to go get himself some food. But Blaise doubted that Harry would have done that. The boy seemed to forget to eat on a regular basis. However, that wasn't what had his mind occupied right now, his thoughts on what Harry had shouted at him. Blaise knew he would have to talk to Harry about it, and he also knew from the past month and a half of just observation, that Harry would be trying to avoid him for the rest of vacation. But Blaise wouldn't allow him to do that, not this time.

Blaise stood up and went to stand in front of the fire, when a house elf appeared next to him.

"You will please be forgiving me, Sir, but Master is telling me to give this to you." The house elf held out an envelope to Blaise who took it curiously. The house elf bowed before it vanished again. Opening the envelope and starting to read, Blaise raised an eyebrow at the single sentence written on the parchment, simply stating that he was to meet Snape in his office by six. Checking the time, if he went down there now he'd be at least fifteen minutes early. Also leaving him a better chance of catching Harry before the Occlumency lesson was over.

The walk down to the dungeon was quiet, seeing as how the castle was mostly empty. Arriving almost exactly fifteen minutes early, Blaise knocked on the door.

The office door opened and Snape looked down at him. "My godson has requested your presence at Malfoy Manor tonight," he informed Blaise.

"Why? I'm going there tomorrow anyway," Blaise said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That is something you will have to discuss with Draco. He simply asked me to relay his message to you. We shall use the fire place in my office if you wish to go," Snape explained and Blaise sighed feeling like he was doing that a lot lately.

Deciding that he would have to catch Harry after Christmas, Blaise nodded. It would at the very least give Harry a couple days to calm down before Blaise cornered him again. And Blaise was worried about Draco's sudden invitation. "Fine, I'll go. I can just use the floo to come back when I need to."

Snape moved out of the way to allow Blaise to enter his office. Closing the door he turned, moving towards the fire place. Taking down the floo powder from the mantel, he allowed Blaise to go first.

"Malfoy Manor," Blaise said loud and clearly. The flames engulfed him and he was pulled away in a dizzying spiral. But years of training had him stepping out casually onto the other side of the fire place. He stepped out of the way, knowing that Snape would be coming through right behind him.

"Blaise, you actually came," Draco said hurrying over to greet the two early arrivals. He was dressed in his best dress robes, and he couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around Blaise and kissing him.

Blaise wrapped his arms around Draco's waist holding him close "What happened to earn that greeting?" Blaise asked, concerned at the very un-Malfoy like show of public affection.

Narcissa who was also there to greet guests noticed this as well. "Draco, why don't you take Blaise up to your room, I am sure you have some dress robes that will fit him nicely."

Draco pulled away from Blaise. "Yes mother," he said and, keeping hold of Blaise's hand, he lead his boyfriend up the stairs to his room. Once inside Draco turned to face Blaise.

Blaise noticed the frightened look Draco was giving him. It was usually really bad when Draco was this open with his emotions. "What is it Draco?"

"My father, I...," Draco shook his head and took a deep breath to calm himself so he could speak properly. "He suspects something about the bond. Severus came and borrowed a book from him. And my father asked me about it." Draco looked up at Blaise, their hands still linked since Draco was refusing to let go.

"That's why you wanted me here?" Blaise looked at Draco. "Because your father suspects about the bond?" Blaise knew that Lucius Malfoy finding out about the bond would not be a good thing for any of them, least of all Draco. However Draco had been on the receiving end of his Father's temper more than once, and Blaise was sure there was far more to this.

Draco shook his head, his hand tightening its hold on Blaise's. "No...I could handle that; I don't want him to find out, but it should be broken long before it's even a problem with him." Draco turned and went to busy himself finding dress robes for Blaise to wear. Though he didn't know if Blaise would even stay, he just had to keep himself busy.

"Then why did you want me here?" Blaise walked up behind Draco and wrapped his arms around the small waist again. "You're scared, you're even shaking. Draco, what happened?" The worry in his voice was clear.

Draco stilled in Blaise's embrace. "Father said we had a guest in the house, and I was not to disturb him," Draco explained. That simple statement, though harmless it may sound to anyone else, had Blaise's whole body tense and his hold on Draco tightened.

"Is it...?" Blaise didn't want to voice the question, he didn't think he could. But he didn't need to. Just like Draco hadn't needed to hear the name, to know just who his father was playing host to. "Why would they still have the party then?" Blaise asked, he was astonished that they would even dare.

Draco shrugged. "Mother insisted on it, told father it would be to suspicious if we just cancelled it without any reason." Draco turned around to look up at Blaise, studying his face before asking his next question. "Will you stay? Tonight, and tomorrow? Then we can both return to Hogwarts. I don't think I can stay in this house longer than that," Draco admitted. If he was truthful, he didn't want to stay in the house any longer at all. But neither his Father or Mother would be to happy with their son leaving without any warning.

Blaise looked at Draco, never breaking eye contact. "Draco, I don't think I can stay in this house a moment longer right now," Blaise told him apologetically. "Not knowing who is here." His voice was so soft, almost afraid that if he spoke to loudly that the Dark Lord himself would appear out of thin air, but Draco heard him perfectly.

"I cannot leave now. Father would not allow it," Draco said, resting his head on Blaise's shoulder. He didn't want to be left alone here. And Blaise couldn't, or wouldn't, stay.

Blaise was torn, he didn't want to stay here, not with Voldemort staying in the same house. But as much as he couldn't stay, he was not about to leave Draco alone in a house with that mad man either. "I will stay, tonight," he agreed reluctantly. "But in exchange, Draco, we will both return to Hogwarts tomorrow." Blaise was leaving no room for argument, he would stay but would be leaving tomorrow and would drag Draco through the floo himself if he had to.

"It will have to be tomorrow afternoon," Draco told him."I promised Mother that I would be here until then at the very least." He continued resting his head against Blaise's shoulder, not wanting to leave the comfort he had been craving all day. Blaise didn't protest, nor did he bring up the fight they had had the previous day, that was a conversation to be saved for a better time and place.

"Professor Snape gave me the book he borrowed from your father, I've already started reading it. I think we'll make better progress when the three of us can read it together though," Blaise said, trying to change the conversation to something else for a while.

Draco pulled his head away from Blaise's shoulder, to stare at his boyfriend. "Potter hasn't been helping you with it?" Draco asked. He glared, opening his mouth to say something else, but Blaise stopped him pressing his lips against Draco's in a gentle kiss, Blaise hadn't come all the way here to start another fight about Harry, not when it was Draco that needed his attention. The kiss didn't stay gentle for long as Draco wrapped his arms around Blaise's neck, deepening the kiss. Blaise took that moment to back Draco up against the wardrobe that Draco had been looking through for dress robes. Blaise pressed against him, successfully trapping Draco while the kiss grew more heated.

Draco let out a tiny gasp when Blaise bit his bottom lip sharply. Taking advantage of the now open mouth, Blaise's tongue invaded the warm sharp tasting space of Draco's mouth, exploring the familiar space and causing the other boy to moan softly, one pale hand fisted in Blaise's hair, not bothering to fight for control of the kiss. He let Blaise take what he wanted, because this time Draco needed to be the one not in control. He was only dimly aware of the fact that if they didn't stop soon they would both need to find dress robes to wear to the party. But when Blaise started grinding his hips against Draco's, the blond knew they were both lost and most likely would not make it down to the party until much later, if at all.

**B**

Dumbledore stood by his window looking out onto the grounds of Hogwarts while he thought of the current situation Harry Potter seemed to have landed himself in. Dumbledore still believed it was for the best that Harry now found himself bonded to two wizards who, in the long run, Dumbledore thought would be a very valuable asset to the side of light.

However things were not progressing quite as he had hoped, as it appeared that young Draco and Harry still were not on the best of speaking terms. And then there was the slight problem of Harry's Occlumency; Dumbledore had known the chances of Harry succeeding with mastering Occlumency were very slim, the connection with Voldemort would not make it easy. And that was a connection that was growing disturbingly stronger every day. Though Dumbledore was sure that Harry was still vastly unaware of just how strongly he and the Dark Lord were connected; the old wizard was still reluctant to tell the boy.

Turning away from the window Dumbledore sat down in his chair. "Perhaps it would be best if I just let things continue on this course for a while longer," he said, looking over at Fawkes. The Phoenix let out a tone before it burst into flames. Dumbledore sighed. "There is nothing else I can do," he said to the ashes of the bird.

**B**

Harry rolled over in his bed kicking the covers off. He felt far too hot right now to have them on him any longer. Turning his head to the side Harry checked the time and groaned. It was nearly five in the morning. He had been up nearly every hour all night, he blamed it on the nightmares that wouldn't leave him alone. They had been a disturbing combination of his not so happy childhood and Voldemort.

Sitting up slowly, Harry reached over to find his glasses and put them on, knowing that he was not getting any more sleep today. He ignored the light headed feeling that sitting up brought on and got out of bed, he paused just outside his door and looked across the hall to the door leading to Blaise and Draco's room, he only lingered in the hallway for a moment before making his way to the common room.

The fire had long since been put out, making the room colder than it had been hours before. Harry sat himself down on the sofa letting his mind wander, thinking about why Blaise would not have come back last night. He had not heard Blaise at all, and the last time he had been up at two a.m. He had even checked in the room across the hall. Blaise's bed had not been slept in. Harry could only guess that Blaise must have spent the night either in the Slytherin common rooms, or had gone somewhere else where he would not have to talk to Harry. And that was perfectly fine with him.

Looking around the common room Harry saw the blanket that had been left there earlier, and the book that Blaise had been reading yesterday, recognising it as the book on bonding that Snape had given them he picked it up he flipped it open to one of the pages that had been marked.

"Signature Bonding." Harry read, there seemed to be different types of this one particular bond. Ranging from magical signature bonding, to emotional bonding. Harry had barely just finished reading over the first page when his scar started burning, starting as a dull throb before the pain exploded through his entire head. Harry screamed falling off the sofa he pressed his hands against his scar. The pain was horrible, starting from his scar and slowly spreading through his whole body.

Images started flashing through his mind as he was now seeing through eyes that were not his own.

**B**

Draco and Blaise had missed the party entirely, though Draco had fully intended to at least make an appearance, Blaise hadn't allowed him to leave the bed. Smiling, the blond turned his head to look at his still sleeping boyfriend. He was extremely happy that Blaise had come yesterday, and had stayed with him the whole night. He was still hoping that he could convince Blaise to stay for one more night, then both of them would go back to Hogwarts tomorrow instead, mostly because Draco was really not all that eager to see Harry. He wanted to just enjoy his time with Blaise alone for a little while.

Shifting carefully out of bed as to not wake Blaise. Draco quietly got dressed for the day, even though it was still early, he wanted the chance to sneak down and get himself and Blaise some breakfast before his Father was awake, knowing that the older man would most likely want to speak with him about his absence during the party.

Yet another conversation that Draco was hoping he would be able to avoid. His mind was occupied by these thoughts as he made his way down to the dining hall. He did not, at first, notice who was in the dining hall, because his eyes fell initially on his Father.

"Draco, we were not expecting you up so early," Lucius said from where he sat which, Draco was surprised to see, was not at the head of the table. More than a little afraid to see who was sitting in his father's seat, Draco slowly turned his head and looked, locking eyes with Voldemort.

Draco's eyes went wide and he averted his gaze quickly back to his father. "I am sorry Father. I did not mean to interrupt," he said polity and was rather impressed with himself that his voice did not shake. "I will just go," he said, excusing himself, wanting to get out of that room now; even better would be going upstairs, waking Blaise and going back to Hogwarts as soon as possible.

"Draco, we were just discussing you. Come, join us," Voldemort said and Draco's whole body tensed with fear at being spoken to by the Dark Lord. He couldn't respond, and he also found that he could not move either. Looking once again to his father, with a silent plea for help. The man remained where he was sitting. And did not even look in Draco's direction.

Realising, quite painfully, that he was alone on this one, Draco slowly made his way forward sitting down in an empty chair as far away from Voldemort as he could get away with. But it was nowhere near far enough.

"Your father has told me a great deal about you," Voldemort said, once Draco had been seated. Draco stared at the table, still not daring to move, or speak. "I have also heard about your dear friend, what was his name again?" Voldemort looked thoughtful. "Ah yes, Zabini I believe it was."

Draco still said nothing, and just nodded slowly. He could only think about was the warnings Blaise had given him, how much Blaise had not wanted him to come home. And last night, how Blaise had wanted them both to leave the house. Draco couldn't even remember why he had wanted to come home so badly, or why he had even wanted to stay. He had always known that his father was a Death Eater, always known the part his father had played in the first war. But Draco had also desperately wanted to believe the lies that had been told, that his father had had no choice in what he did, that he had been under the Imperious curse.

However, now, Draco could no longer deny it, could no longer hide behind the lies. He chanced a look at the monster sitting at the table with them. He found himself unable to look long, before the table once again became far more interesting.

"I do hope I will have the pleasure of meeting your friend at some point," Voldemort said. And Draco silently hoped that Voldemort would never meet Blaise. "However, it is you, Draco, who has been chosen to carry out a very important task for me, and if you wish it, I shall include your...friend, in these plans."

Draco's breath hitched, his fists clenched in his lap as he tried to think of some way to get out of this that would not result in his immediately death, and if he couldn't get out of it, then he could at least keep Blaise away.

"Draco would be more than happy to accept this task from you, my Lord," Lucius answered for his son, when it seemed as if Draco was just going to sit there.

"So you say, but is that truly how our young Draco feels? Does it please you, to know I have chosen you, out of all my Death Eaters, a boy who does not even have my mark?" Voldemort asked, eyeing Draco curiously.

"I would have to say, I am more surprised than anything, Sir." Draco said not looking up at his Father or Voldemort his hands trembling where he kept them firmly in his lap.

"The boy is more truthful then you are Lucius," Voldemort hissed, sounding almost amused by this. "Very well Draco, your task is simple." Voldemort set a small box on the table. "In this box is a ring; the ring is a port key that will transport a certain someone here once it has been activated. Your task, is to get this ring to that person." Voldemort's red eyes narrowed slightly. "And should you fail in this task." Voldemort raised his pale hand and flicked his wand in the direction of Lucius.

Draco was frozen watching with wide fearful eyes as his father fall from his chair screaming writhing on the floor in pain. The curse ended just as quickly and Lucius had to struggle back to his feet, pulling himself up he sat down in the chair he had just fallen from. Draco was still staring, not daring to believe what he had just seen, but knowing that it was something that he would never forget as long as he lived. The strong independent man that Draco had always known as his Father was no longer there. Instead Draco saw a full grown wizard who sat in the presence of the Dark Lord as one of his proud followers, and yet feared the snake like man as much as if not more than Draco did.

"I take it my warning is quite clear?" Voldemort asked, catching Draco's attention again. Draco nodded quickly, not trusting his voice. "You may leave then," Voldemort dismissed him, picking the box up off the table and holding it out for Draco to take.

Trying to stop his hands shaking, Draco stood from his seat stepping forward he took the box. The pale hand closed around his in a surprisingly tight grip, and Draco found himself looking into the face of the monster.

"Do not disappoint me, Draco," Voldemort said, letting Draco go. Looking down at the tiny box in his hand, Draco opened it. Inside was a ring that he had seen many times before, it was one of his father's, so no one would be able to question him having it.

"Who am I supposed to give this to?" Draco asked.

"Harry Potter."

TBC

So in this chapter, I really don't know who I felt worse for, Blaise, Draco or Harry.


	11. Chapter 11

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 11

Draco and Blaise sat in the sitting room of Malfoy Manor later on Christmas morning opening their presents. Though Draco felt detached from everything right now; the box that held his father's ring felt far to heavy in his pocket. He had not told Blaise about that morning yet, not wanting to alarm him, but also because he knew that as soon as he did tell Blaise, he would have been dragged back to Hogwarts. Blaise would probably stop him from ever returning home again. No, it was far better to just make it through this morning, forget about staying the extra night and go back to school for the rest of the holiday.

Now just came the tricky part of explaining that to his Mother. He was sure that his Father wouldn't be suspicious about him wanting to return to school so soon, particularly now he had a mission to complete.

Draco looked over at his Mother who was pulling out a new necklace that he had gotten her for Christmas. "It is lovely Draco, thank you," Narcissa said, smiling at him.

"I am glad you like it Mother." Draco smiled back at her, knowing that the smile was forced; he wished that there was a way that he could bring his Mother with him when he left. He would feel much better with her away from Voldemort.

Blaise gave Draco a worried look, as he had been doing all morning. Ever since he had woken up to find Draco dressed and ready for the day, and looking even paler then he usually was. Even now Blaise thought that the blond boy still looked far too pale, he was sure that this had not gone un-noticed by Narcissa either. And was likely the reason neither he or Draco had been questioned about their absence at the party last night.

Blaise wrapped his arm around Draco's waist pulling the blond closer to him. Draco jumped slightly, turning his head just enough to look at Blaise before he relaxed against him. "What's wrong?" Blaise whispered in Draco's ear.

"...I'll tell you later." Draco whispered back. Lucius cleared his throat from the doorway to the sitting room, and Blaise frowned even more when he felt Draco tense before pulling away.

"A word with you, Draco?" Lucius said as he eyed his son, a look that clearly demanded that his request be obeyed. Draco was not eager to have another conversation alone with his father, and so continued sitting there. But, as Lucius narrowed his eyes at his son's silent defiance, Draco sighed and slowly stood up. He had not made it far when Blaise grab his arm standing up next to him.

Blaise had done this a couple times before, and it had worked to a point, but Lucius always managed to get his son alone to talk, even if he had to wait for it

Lucius narrowed his eyes dangerously at Draco. "Alone, if you do not mind." The words were cold and demanding. Draco had no doubt that his father was still sore from the curse he had suffered earlier that morning, and as a result his patience was thin.

"Actually, sir, Draco and I were planning on returning to Hogwarts. We just need to collect his things from upstairs, and then we were going to leave." Blaise said, Draco always admired Blaise for standing up to Lucius like that, but he also hated it because he knew one of these days, Blaise was going to push it too far and feel the full affect of Lucius' anger. And judging from the look Lucius was giving Blaise right now, that day could be today.

Narcissa seemed to realise this as well, and spoke up hoping to defuse the situation before it got any worse. "I thought you were going to be staying at least until dinner tonight," she said looking at Blaise then Draco.

"That was the original plan Mother." Draco said. "But something has come up," Draco glanced over at his Father, Narcissa also caught the look. She would have to have a few words of her own with Lucius later.

"Of course, Draco. I will go and have one of the elves pack your things. And then we can enjoy the rest of our morning." Narcissa stood and hugged Draco briefly.

"Narcissa," Lucius said, but she fixed him with a stern look.

"Lucius, what is so important that you simply must talk with Draco alone?" She asked.

Lucius narrowed his eyes at his wife. "Draco, come and speak to me before you leave." Lucius left the room. He needed to make sure that Draco understood the importance of the task given to him.

"I am sorry to be kidnapping Draco from you so early into the Holidays," Blaise said to Narcissa once Lucius had left the room.

"It's quite alright, I was surprised that my Draco even decided to come home," she admitted and looked at Draco. "I will be making reservations for dinner in France on new year's eve, both of you are invited," she said.

"We will think about it Mrs. Malfoy," Blaise said before Draco had a chance to answer.

"Of course, with Lucius being so busy lately it may just be the three of us," Narcissa said, knowing full well that Blaise didn't particularly like Lucius; he was a hard man to get along with sometimes.

"We'll let you know by Friday if we can come mother." Draco said and Narcissa nodded.

"Then, why don't we enjoy the rest of our morning before you two have to leave?" She suggested.

The rest of the morning went smoothly enough. Blaise and Draco had remained at the manor long enough to have an early lunch with Narcissa, and Draco had even managed to avoid a trip to his Father's office, since Lucius had instead just corned his son when Draco had gone to retrieve his trunk before returning to Hogwarts.

"I expect updates on your progress, Draco," Lucius had said, but didn't get anything more out before Blaise had walked in on them.

"Professor Snape said we could floo into his office, as long as we did it now," Blaise said looking at Draco, who nodded. Stepping around his Father Draco went over to Blaise. Giving Lucius one more look, Blaise put an arm around Draco's shoulder and both boys went down to the fire place.

Narcissa was waiting for them next to the fire place. "I wll hear from you by Friday." It was not a question, and Draco smiled hugging his mother.

"I will owl you," He promised. Narcissa hugged her only child, trying to put everything she couldn't easily say into that one moment, she then let go of Draco, looked at Blaise who was watching the two of them.

"You take care of my son," this was not a request, and Blaise nodded easily. He had no intention of ever letting anything happen to Draco.

"I will see you on the other side Draco." Blaise said grabbing some floo powder, he would give Draco that extra moment alone with his mother, knowing that Draco needed it because he had been far to tence all morning.

Even once they were back at Hogwarts Draco still didn't seem at all relaxed.

"Alright Draco, what's going on?" Blaise asked when they had left Snape's empty office.

"I don't want to talk about it," was Draco's reply, shoving his hand into his pocket Draco felt the small ring box still there.

"You know, I am really getting tired of hearing that," Blaise growled, though Draco hadn't been the one who had been using it lately. "Something happened, Draco, why are you hiding things from me now?" Blaise grabbed Draco stopping the other boy from walking away.

Draco turned and faced Blaise. "Because maybe I don't want to tell you everything," Draco snapped.

"I'm worried about you, Draco. I just want to help." Blaise sighed letting Draco go. The other boy turned away from him, his shoulder's sagging in defeat.

"I know, Blaise. I just..., I can't tell you. I don't know HOW to tell you." Draco admitted; he really didn't know how he could tell Blaise about that morning. Even now it felt like it had been something out of a nightmare, the only reason Draco knew for a fact that he had been in the same room as Voldemort, was the tiny box he now had clenched in his hand, still hidden in his pocket.

"Alright. But as soon as you do know, you will tell me won't you?" Blaise asked, he didn't want to push Draco, hoping that when he was ready Draco would tell him of his own accord.

"I promise," Draco said and he allowed Blaise to take his hand. The two of them went back to their common room. Draco knew that he was going to have a lot of thinking to do. About what he truly wanted; just saying he didn't want to take the Dark Mark, and follow his Father down that path, wasn't going to be enough anymore.

**B**

Harry didn't want to move; his body hurt so much, his chest felt heavy as he struggled to take a decent breath. His fingers twitched as he tried desperately to move his arm, he knew he couldn't stay on the floor and he had to get up. He knew he had seen something important, but he couldn't keep hold of the images that he had seen.

Voldemort had been there, he knew that, he had heard him. And there had been, someone, someone else. Voldemort had given them something. Harry gasped, managing to move his arm and pressing his hand against his head when his scar burned again; he braced himself for another wave of pain, that never came. Letting his eyes close, Harry decided that maybe he would just try and move later, the cold floor felt good against his burning skin. He would move when he had the energy to.

He heard the door to the common room open, and someone came in. There was a pause in the conversation between whoever it was in the common room; Harry couldn't see who it was though due to the fact that he did not have his glasses on, and he was mostly hidden behind the sofa.

"Harry?" a voice, Harry dimly recognized as Blaise, asked. What was he doing back so early? Harry didn't think he had been lying on the floor that long. But then again he could have easily passed out after the vision, and woken up a day later. He tried to push himself up, but his arms gave out and he thumped back to the floor, whimpering at the sharp pain that movement had caused.

There were rapid footsteps, and then another familiar voice called out., "Blaise, he's over here!" Hands were on him, sitting him up. Draco had come back as well apparently. Harry tried to push away from the blond, knowing that contact just made what he could feel from Draco even worse, and the last thing he wanted right now was more hatred and anger added to his already pounding head.

"What the...Harry, what happened?" Blaise was kneeling in front of Harry looking into glassy green eyes. Harry was still trying to pull away from Draco. Reaching out, Blaise tried to take Harry from the blond and hissed at how hot Harry felt to the touch. "He's burning up. Draco, hand him here and go start a bath," Blaise instructed, and was glad that Draco didn't even argue as the blond stood up allowing Blaise to take Harry.

Harry still struggled weakly when Blaise picked him up. "Shh, Harry, it's alright," Blaise softly, trying to calm the boy. Once Harry had stopped struggling enough, Blaise was able to pick him up properly and carry him to the bathroom where Draco had started the water.

Blaise put Harry down on the floor next to the bath, summoning a cloth he dipped it in the cool water before pressing it against Harry's forehead.

Harry blinked slowly trying to get things into focus. "...Blaise?" His voice was barely a whisper, and it hurt to talk, just as much as it hurt to breathe right now. He hissed in pain when he felt the cloth press against his sore scar, pulling his head away from the cloth.

"It's alright, Harry," Blaise assured him and set the cloth aside, standing to look at Draco. "I need you to get him into the bath, it will help bring the fever down while I go and get Madam Pomfrey," Blaise said, giving Harry another worried look. He wasn't even sure if the school nurse was even still at Hogwarts, or if she had gone home for the holidays like most of the teachers did, but they needed to find someone.

"Why the hell do I have to watch him?" Draco protested.

"Because he can't bathe himself Draco," Blaise asked and Draco glared at him. "just help me with this, please Draco?" he pleaded, genuinely worried about Harry.

"Fine, but you owe me for this, Blaise," Draco huffed. Blaise smiled giving Draco a quick kiss on the lips, and then left the bathroom. Draco turned his attention back to Harry who looked like he was falling asleep on the floor. "Is it too much to ask, that just once you don't ruin something?" Draco asked looking down at Harry. The smaller boy looked so vulnerable as he sat there, and Draco wondered how easy it would be for him to just give Harry the portkey now, and then all his problems would be gone.

But as Draco stared at him, Harry's chest rising and falling as the sound of his laboured breathing was drown out by the sound of running water, he knew that if he gave Harry the portkey and Harry landed at the manor with Voldemort, the boy would die.

Harry would not have a fighting chance against the Dark Lord. And as much as Draco detested Harry, no matter how jealous he got when Blaise would give this boy attention he didn't deserve, Draco could not bring himself to be responsible for Harry Potter's death. Even if he wouldn't be the one to cast the killing curse, he would have been the one to send Harry to his death.

And so with this in mind, Draco took a deep breath taking off his outer robes so they wouldn't get in the way while he got Harry into the water, he left the ring inside his pocket of his robe as he tossed it aside. Kneeling down Draco looked at Harry.

"Potter, you need to take your clothes off and get in the water," Draco said, hoping that Harry would at least be able to do that much for himself. But the blank look Draco was getting was not promising at all. Letting out an annoyed sigh, Draco knelt down and reached out to pull Harry's shirt off.

Lifting a shaking hand Harry grabbed Draco's wrist, stopping the blond from removing the shirt from Harry.

"Potter, unless you want to be dumped into the water as you are, I suggest you let me do this," Draco snapped. But Harry didn't remove his hand.

"I'm sorry," Harry gasped out, his voice still soft and weak. Harry was unsure of why he needed to say this, but he needed Draco to know he was sorry. Sorry for forcing him into the bond, sorry that because of him, Draco had been fighting with Blaise, because of him Draco had Voldemort living at his house now, sorry for being here at all.

Draco blinked his eyes wide in surprise, not because of what Harry had said, it wasn't the words he was focused on. Being in contact with Harry, even using Occlumency, it didn't fully block the bond. And now Draco was feeling the echo of everything Harry was, the pain, the heavy weight on his chest, the burning coming from his scar. And the emotional pain. Harry let his hand fall away from Draco's wrist.

"We need to get you into the bath, Harry," Draco said trying to ignore the new emotions running through him, even after Harry had let go of his wrist. He couldn't understand, even feeling the echo of what Harry was feeling, how could anyone be in this much pain? Even now, if Draco wasn't feeling it for himself, and knew it was coming from Harry, he never would have believed that the other boy was in this much pain.

As Draco worked to rid Harry of his clothes as he continued taking short gasping breaths. Draco wished he could do something to help Harry's breathing, but he didn't know anything about healing spells and would most likely just cause Harry even more pain if he tried.

When he had undressed Harry down to his underwear, Draco was surprised once again as he now stared down at the mostly naked body flushed with fever. Scares littered Harry's upper body, reaching out Draco absently traced one of the scars up by Harry's shoulder. Harry flinched away from him and Draco got a flash of a large man bearing down on him.

Shaking his head, Draco lifted, the surprisingly light, Harry up in his arms and gently put him into the bath tub. What happened next was very unexpected. As soon as Harry felt himself being lowered into the water, his eyes, that had been closing out of pure exhaustion, snapped open and he struggled to get out of the water. Draco lost his hold on Harry, and the black haired boy fell into the bath, submerged completely in water.

Harry didn't have much time to think as Draco managed to grab him and sat him up quickly. Coughing violently Harry tried to once again get out of the water. "Sit down you idiot!" Draco snapped at him.

"...Draco?" Harry blinked in confusion coughing again. Draco sighed and rubbed his back until Harry's coughing fit had calmed down enough.

"Lay back, you have a fever, and we're trying to get it down a bit." Draco explained. Harry was still staring at him, though he could not see Draco properly. He still didn't seem fully aware of his surroundings, but he no longer fought to get out of the bath. "Just don't fall asleep in the water," Draco said, as Harry seemed to be doing just that.

Draco sat there, making sure that Harry didn't actually fall asleep, but he also studied the other boy. For the first time he could actually remember, he truly looked at Harry. The far too skinny frame of the boy, the bright red scar on his forehead, the dark circles under his eyes showing that he most likely had not slept well in a while. And then the curious scars that littered his body. Draco knew by looking at them that they were not done by a wand, having his own fair share of scars from lessons with his Father, but Draco's scars were nearly invisible, and unless you knew they were there, they were hard to see. Draco's thoughts was brought out of his thoughts when Blaise came back into the bathroom, looking like he had run all the way to the infirmary and back again.

"Where's Pomfrey?" Draco asked when he did not see the witch with Blaise.

"She wasn't there, I got a fever reducing potion though," Blaise said as he came into the bathroom to stand next to Draco, he looked down at Harry, looking at the scars that he had already seen once on the boy's body. But that time he had not gotten a very good look at them.

"Let's finish washing him up a bit, then we'll give him the potion." Blaise knelt next to the bath and picked up the cloth he had set aside before. Draco made no move to help him, but he didn't leave the bathroom or protest as Blaise started washing Harry.

"He has a lot of scars," Draco commented.

"I know, I saw them before," Blaise said glancing over at Draco waiting for some kind of comment to that, when none came he continued. "He said he didn't want to talk about them."

"He doesn't talk about things," Draco observed. "Even to his so called friends. Even I've noticed that much."

Blaise gave Draco a curious look before he returned to washing Harry. Once he was finished with that Draco moved to help him get Harry out of the bath, casting a quick drying charm on him before Draco let Blaise lift Harry up. Draco followed them to Harry's room, where he watched as Blaise put Harry on the bed.

Draco got some warm pyjamas for Harry, while Blaise took out the potion, trying to get Harry to drink it.

"He won't drink it on his own," Draco said as he came over to the bed. Setting the night clothes down he took the vile from Blaise. "Tilt his head back," Draco instructed and Blaise did as he was asked, letting Draco poured the potion into Harry's mouth, closing his mouth before Harry could spit it out.

Harry was left with no choice but to swallow the potion, coughing when Draco removed his hand. It was kind of tricky and a little bit awkward, but with the help of both Blaise and Draco, Harry was soon dressed and settled down into bed. Waiting a moment to make sure that Harry was in fact going to sleep, both boy's left the room, though Blaise left the door to Harry's room open, just in case he woke up.

"Well, this is turning out to be an interesting Christmas day," Blaise commented.

"Interesting isn't quite the word I would choose for it." Draco looked back into the room at Harry's now sleeping form.

"What are you thinking, Draco?" Blaise asked wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.

"How could he get so sick that quickly?" Draco asked, trying not to sound worried, but it really wasn't normal, Harry had seemed fine before vacation had started.

"Well, my guess is going out flying yesterday without proper clothes on has something to do with it. I've told you before, Draco, Harry doesn't take care of himself at all. I would even bet that he didn't eat at all yesterday after I left." Blaise kept his arms wrapped around Draco, letting the blond think.

"You said Professor Snape gave you a book about the bonding?" Draco turned his head slightly to look at Blaise.

"It should be in the common room, last I saw it." Blaise let Draco pull away from him, and the blond went down the hall to the common room. After one last look at Harry, Blaise followed him.

"I already marked a few things that it could be," Blaise said, going over to sit on the sofa next to Draco, who had found the book open on the floor, sat down, and started reading the page that the book had been left on.

"Signature bonding?" Draco frowned skimming the section over. "Signature bonding can be formed between two or more people, due to the fact that each person has many different signatures. A magical or emotional signatures being the most common," Draco read out loud and then looked up at Blaise, who was reading over his shoulder.

"That does sound about right. And this part here." Blaise pointed to a passage further down the page. "If a person's magical core is in danger, it is likely that a signature bond will be forged." Both boys continued reading the book. Finding out what they could. It seemed that the bond, forced a close relationship between people, though it did not have to be a romantic relationship. Just being close friends could be enough for this bond to form.

They knew that Harry and Blaise had formed a magical bond, though they could not figure out why this was, and it would require more research if they truly wanted to know. But as for Draco and Harry, they had formed an emotional connection. There were many reasons as to why this could have happened, but after seeing the scars on Harry's body, Draco would have to assume it had something to do with a dark childhoods they shared.

The down side to all of this was, that after trying to find a book on what this bond was, and trying to find a way to break the bond so they could all continue on with their lives as if nothing had happened, it was all for naught.

"There's no way to break the bond..." Draco said a bit faintly, closing the book. He didn't know what to think about this. They were stuck with Harry..., unless Voldemort killed him. Draco shuddered at that thought, shook his head to try and rid his mind of it.

"We can figure something out, Draco." Blaise pulled the blond closer to him and Draco allowed it. Draco knew that Blaise was trying to keep him thinking positive about this. But it really just came down to the fact that Draco now had only two choices open to him.

He could use the portkey that Voldemort had given him, sending Harry away to his death and be rid of the boy wonder forever. But in doing so he would proclaim his allegiance to the Dark Lord, be forced to take the Dark Mark and follow in his Father's footsteps, kneeling before the snake faced man for the rest of his life.

Or he could turn his back on everything he had been raised to know and believe, walk away from his family, be labelled a blood traitor until either someone killed him, or better yet, killed Voldemort.

Looking up at Blaise, it turned out it wasn't a difficult choice after all; Draco knew what he wanted to do. Leaning up, he kissed Blaise. "I'll be right back," he said and pulling away from his boyfriend. he stood up. Blaise gave him a curious look as Draco went down the hallway. He went back into the bathroom and got his robe; digging in the pocket he pulled out the small box and opened it. It was a priceless heirloom that had been passed down from generation to generation in the Malfoy line. And it had been tainted by the man his Father called master. Closing the box, Draco left the bathroom and went to Harry's room.

The boy was still asleep. Reaching out Draco put a hand on Harry's forehead, it no longer felt too hot to touch, so at least the potion seemed to be working.

"You win, Harry," Draco sighed closing his eyes and dropping his Occlumency shields, allowing the bond that should have been formed sooner to enter his mind, linking him and Harry, the way that Harry had been linked to Blaise. He hoped he would not regret this, turning his back on his family; Harry was now his only hope for surviving what was to come. But somehow, Draco knew that Harry would need him, and Blaise as well.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

So I don't know if anyone will actually read this, since I am sure you all just want to get on with the chapter you've been waiting for! But this is just an apology for taking so long, I had writers block, and then lost track of where I was going with this chapter, so I actually had to go back and re-read what I have done so far. So with that all done, and me back on track with what I am doing. Here we go!

Unwanted bonds

Chapter 12

Blaise waited in the common room for Draco, though he was curious about what his boyfriend might be doing; Blaise was also worried about him, as Draco had been acting strangely all morning, but it could have easily just been stress. After all, it wasn't every day that someone found out their family was playing host to the most powerful dark wizard around. That would surely stress anyone out; and if there was one thing that Blaise knew about Draco, it was that the blond did not handle stress very well.

That much was plain to see, considering how Draco was reacting to the bond with Harry. Though both Blaise and Draco had agreed that it was probably the best chance they had at decent protection, nothing could change the fact that Draco did not like Harry Potter.

As Blaise sat there, letting his mind wander, he felt something with the bond shift; it was similar to what he felt right before Harry's magic went wild. He stood up quickly and waited for a moment, but there was no wild magic, just that strange sudden shift. And that worried Blaise more then what Harry's magic could do. He ran down the hall quickly and came to a stop just inside Harry's door. His eyes going straight to the blond kneeling on the floor next to Harry's bed.

Draco had his head in his hands, his eyes closed tightly against the sudden pain he had picked up from Harry after opening the bond.

"Draco?" Blaise was more concerned now as he went further into the room, kneeling next to his boyfriend. "Draco, what happened?"

"Nothing, it's fine," Draco said, though he was still holding his head, wincing when he tried to move and Harry let out a small whimper at almost the same time. Blaise looked up onto the bed where Harry was still sleeping, then back at Draco before it clicked.

"The bond...Draco, did you open it?" Blaise asked, wondering why Draco would suddenly change his mind like that.

"Yeah...I did," Draco said through clenched teeth. His head was pounding from the sudden rush he had gotten from Harry, and no doubt Harry would be complaining about a headache when he woke up as well. But now that it was done, it couldn't be un-done. And much like Blaise had felt when the bond first formed, Draco now felt very protective of Harry, and Blaise both. It was a strange sensation, knowing that the feelings hadn't truly been there before, and even if they had, the bond seemed to make Draco more aware of them, but Draco pushed that aside for now, to instead focus on why his head hurt so much.

"This, probably should have waited till he wasn't sick anymore," Draco said with half a smile and Blaise chuckled.

"Yeah, might have been a better idea," Blaise said, helping Draco to his feet. They both looked over at Harry who was still sleeping. "So, what brought this on all of a sudden?" he asked turning his attention back to Draco once more.

Draco shrugged. "There never really was much of a choice, the bond can't be broken, not without causing harm to all of us," he said, though Blaise knew there had to be more to it than that. Draco wouldn't have given up on breaking the bond, just because one book said they couldn't.

Blaise shook his head, deciding to let it go for now. "Well, either way, it's done now," Blaise said, wrapping his arms around Draco. "Whatever your reason, I'm glad for it." Blaise was hoping that now with Draco's bond fully open, things would start getting better for the three of them. There was still a lot of work to do with the Bond, but now that they had an idea of what it was, they would be able to research more of it.

Draco leaned into the embrace, seeking the comfort that Blaise provided. He did not tell Blaise about the ring, or about the meeting he had had with Voldemort that morning, none of it was really important now; because, by opening the bond with Harry, Draco knew he would never be allowed to go home, not as long as Voldemort was there.

"...Blaise?" Harry's quiet voice broke the silence of the room, catching both Blaise and Draco by surprise, they hadn't noticed that Harry had woken up. The black haired boy turned his head looking at the two of them. "...Draco?" Harry blinked trying to clear his vision, wondering if he was seeing things, sitting up slowly he reached for his glasses.

Draco winced slightly as Harry moved though. "If it hurts to move, just stay laying down.," Draco snapped, and Harry froze looking at the fuzzy outline of who he knew to be Draco.

"It's not that bad..." Harry said confused, even though Draco had snapped at him, Harry didn't feel any of the usual hatred coming from the other boy.

"Your head hurts enough that it's making mine feel like it's going to split in two. At least don't move, until we can get some pain relief potion?" Draco requested putting a hand on his own head again, as the pain made itself known once again. "Merlin, how can you even be moving around with this pain?" Draco asked.

"I have a high pain tolerance I suppose... I know the pain is there; but... it's more like an annoying pain, so I just ignore it," Harry explained, though he knew this pain was more than just an annoyance, this was the dull aftershock of his scar burning, and it was still burning. But Harry knew that there was nothing that could be done but let it pass, so he chose to ignore it the best he could. He was used to pretending that he was not in pain, it was something he had been doing since he was younger.

"Ignore it? I always knew you were strange," Draco huffed, leaning his head against Blaise's shoulder, as he tried to ignore the pain like Harry, though it was something easier said than done in Draco's opinion.

"You two wait here," Blaise said gently pushing Draco away from him, and making the blond sit on the bed. "I'm going to get some pain relief potion for both of you," he said, giving them both a worried look before he left the room. Blaise knew that Draco and Harry were most likely not going to fight as much now that Draco had opened the bond, but he would be naive to think that there would be no more fights. This was after all, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, sworn enemies since day one.

When Blaise left the room, Harry leaned back against the headboard, finally slipping his glasses onto his face, so he could now see Draco sitting there on the bed with him. The blond boy wasn't looking at him though. "Draco?" Harry asked, he could feel their bond loud and clear now, and he could tell that Draco was worried, and perhaps more than a little scared.

"Draco, why did you open the bond? I thought, I mean, opening it like this... it's not exactly breaking it..." Harry said chewing on his lower lip, as images swam back to his mind. He couldn't tell if he was remembering them, or if they were actually from Draco. "It was Voldemort," Harry said his eyes widening. "You, this morning, you saw him."

Draco flinched at the sound of the Dark Lord's name, and shot Harry a look for using it so casually the way he did. "How do you know about that?" Draco snapped, he hadn't even told Blaise about seeing Voldemort, and all Harry did was look at him and he knew

"Oh, right," Draco said, shaking his head and feeling stupid now. "The bond, you probably saw. It's not really any of your business; but no, that is not the reason I opened the bond. Well, not the whole reason anyway," Draco continued, looking at Harry, who was now staring back at him. Draco noticed the still slightly flushed cheeks and so reached out, pressing his hand against Harry's forehead again, catching Harry by surprise. Draco pulled his hand away when he saw Harry flinch back.

"Your fever has really gone down, but maybe we should continue talking," Draco suggested, "after you've fully recovered."

Draco let his hand fall back onto the bed, and Harry just stared at him; not quite sure what to make out of this whole new situation he found himself in. It had been just yesterday that Draco had left, still determined to break the bond with Harry. The jealousy was still there, Harry could tell that much at least. Harry could also tell that Draco still hated the idea of Blaise giving Harry any kind of special attention, but as easily as Harry could tell all that, he also knew that it didn't seem quite as important to Draco as it had yesterday.

"Why don't you want to break the bond anymore?" Harry asked. Could coming face to face with Voldemort really change Draco's mind so drastically?

"Because there is no way to break it, Harry." Draco turned his head looking away from Harry; he looked around Harry's room, having never really been in there at all during the past month and a half. He was surprised that the room was still so, empty. He could tell that someone had been using the room, there were school books on the desk, and Harry's cloak was draped over the back of the chair, but there was no other signs in the room that anyone actually lived in there.

"Oh..." was Harry's soft reply. Draco expected him to say more, but when nothing else was said, Draco looked back at him. Harry had his eyes closed, though wasn't sleeping. Draco wondered if Harry was still trying to ignore the pain in his head. Draco could still feel the echo of it, but now with the bond fully open, he could now use Occlumency against Harry again, just enough to keep his own mind safe from the pain.

"What happened while Blaise and I were gone?" Draco asked. "You didn't seem all that sick when I left yesterday." Draco tried not to sound all that concerned, but it had been quite frightening to come back and find Harry passed out on the floor.

"Why do you care?" Harry snapped, glaring at Draco. "As I recall, you couldn't wait to get out of here yesterday. Why aren't you still home with dear old Mum and Dad?"

Harry didn't know where his anger was coming from, maybe it just had something to do with the fact that since Halloween, Draco had made it quite clear that he was only agreeing to the bond because of the protection that came along with being bonded to Harry Potter. Draco had also been going to most of Harry's Occlumency lessons; theoretically the blond had been there to help Harry learn how to use it, but it had been far more amusing to just laugh at Harry's inability to protect his own mind.

"I don't know what you want me to say to that," Draco said; he knew that Harry had every right to be upset, but Draco felt his own anger rising. "I couldn't wait to get out of here yesterday, because I didn't want to sit here and watch you steal my boyfriend away. As to why I'm not still at home, I don't think I really need to answer that question."

"Steal your..." Harry stared at Draco in confusion. Did Draco really think that Blaise wouldn't choose him over Harry? Even after practically screaming his confession to Blaise yesterday, Harry knew that Blaise would always choose Draco first.

"Even if I was interested in Blaise, do you actually think he would actually choose me over you?" Harry asked, his hands fisted in the blanket, as he studied the blond boy in front of him. And he realised that Draco truly did think that; he was so focused on all the attention Blaise had been giving Harry, that he wasn't able to see how much Blaise still cared about him. "Is that why you hate me?" Harry asked, catching Draco off guard.

"What?" it was Draco's turn to stare at Harry.

"Is that why you hate me?" Harry repeated the question averting his eyes from Draco's. "Why you hated Blaise giving me any kind of attention before, and why you're always mad at me. Even when I don't have control over my magic, and Blaise has to calm me down... I thought before that it was because of the bond, but you never seemed that mad about it. But whenever Blaise is near me..." Harry looked back at Draco. "You thought that I was trying to take Blaise away from you," Harry said softly with dawning realisation and Draco had no idea what he could even say to that. Simply saying 'yes' didn't quite sound right, because now being faced with the question, why did Draco hate Harry so much?

Harry lay back down, resting his head on the pillows he closed his eyes. "We've never been friends, and I'm not stupid enough to think that's going to change, even with the bond open. But Draco, I don't hate you that much, it's obvious you both love each other. I'm not going to break you guys up," Harry said, rolling over, he wasn't really intending on going back to sleep just yet, but he didn't think he could continue this conversation right now.

Draco turned his head towards the door, half hoping that Blaise would come back right about now, and save him from having to actually think about the answer to that question. But Draco knew it would take Blaise longer to get the pain relief potion and get back.

"I don't hate you either," Draco finally said, and didn't know if he was more surprised that he had actually said those words to Harry Potter, or if it was more surprising that he was almost sure that they were true.

**B**

Snape was in a foul mood, more so then usual. Though this one was not caused by students for a change. This one had been caused by the Dark Lord, and the fact that Dumbledore was standing in the potion master's office, apparently awaiting Snape's return.

"Is it too much to ask that I be able to spend my own holiday as I see fit?" Snape said as way of greeting the Headmaster.

"I merely came to inquire about your Occlumency lessons with Harry," Dumbledore said, not at all fazed by the sharp tone Snape had used with him. It seemed as if Dumbledore always thought that irritating Snape was some sort of game, trying to see how far he could push the other man before being thrown out of the office. Which was something that Snape had not been able to do yet.

"Why don't you go ask the boy? He did stay here for Christmas after all," Snape said removing his cloak and hanging it up.

"Yes, well it would seem that he is currently being looked after by both Draco and Blaise. Or were you not aware that they returned from their holiday so soon?" Dumbledore watched as Snape moved about his office, checking on his potion ingredients before grabbing a few phials off the shelf.

"I was aware of it, after all I did just return from Malfoy Manor." Snape looked at Dumbledore now. "Just ask me what it is you really want to know, I am quite busy right now."

"I have already asked you my question, Severus. Though now I must wonder why you are reluctant to answer."

"That boy has no hope of ever protecting his mind, the only thing he could possibly ever do to the Dark Lord is give him a minor headache from having to look at that jumbled mess," Snape said. "And the Dark Lord is getting impatient waiting for the potion." Snape narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore frowned. "I see. Then we will have to think of something else that will help protect Harry's mind. How long can you delay the potion?"

"Another three weeks at best, or else I will have to start over," Snape informed him.

"That, might be for the best," Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "Of course I would imagine that Voldemort would be quite displeased if the potion was not ready in three weeks." It was more of statement, because Dumbledore already knew the answer to that, and also knew quite well what would happen to Snape if the potion was somehow delayed even longer.

"Continue with the potion, and Harry's lessons for now. I will think of something else we can try," Dumbledore said turning to leave Snape to his own business. And Snape resisted the urge to throw something at the retreating back of the Headmaster, it was an urge he had resisted many times before. He truly did not believe that Dumbledore even knew what the potion would do to Harry.

And it wasn't even just Harry any more, with Draco and Blaise being bonded to the Golden Boy, who knew how the potion would affect them through the bond. Snape growled to himself as he went into his private room where the potion was waiting for the next few ingredients. He almost hoped that Peeves would find his way in here and ruin the potion for him. It really would buy them some more time.

**B**

Sirius Black was not a happy person. Granted it was hard to really be happy when you had nearly the entire Wizarding world out for your head. And a good portion of the Muggle world on the lookout as well. But after being wrongly accused for fourteen years, he was used to it by now.

However that is not what had him upset today. It was the fact that Harry was supposed to be here today, but due to unknown circumstances, his godson had decided to remain at school. And to make matters worse, Sirius was stuck in this filthy house with nothing but his obnoxious house elf for company, and the occasional order member that passed through. The only one who ever remained long enough to have a good conversation was Remus, but even the werewolf was busy these days and could never stay as long as Sirius would have liked.

So for now, Sirius was stuck waiting for Remus to arrive, since he was supposed to come by and spend Christmas with Sirius and Harry. Of course the problem was that Harry was obviously not here, and Sirius was doing his best to just not storm through the fireplace to Dumbledore's office and demand to know why his godson was still at school.

"Are you still brooding Sirius?" Remus asked as he came into the kitchen where Sirius was sitting watching the fireplace. And Remus knew from the look his old friend was giving him, that if he had arrived any later then Sirius would have used the floo and gone straight to Hogwarts. "You know Harry probably has a good reason for staying," Remus pointed out.

"I'm sure he does, but I am also would have expect that he would have at least sent a letter to at least let me know he wasn't coming," Sirius stood up to start pacing. He had been waiting all morning for Remus to arrive, and he felt he would go crazy if he waited any longer. "I need to talk to Dumbledore, or maybe just go there. If Harry won't come home, then I'll just go to him." Sirius grinned, and Remus knew that his old friend was not joking around. After all, Sirius had broken out of prison to get to Harry, and would risk going back again in order to see the boy.

"Alright I will floo call Dumbledore, but even if he allows us through then you're going as Padfoot," Remus said also standing up; it would be pointless to argue with Sirius right now, so the easiest thing would be to help and minimise the risk of him being caught.

"Of course, because I really thought it would be a good idea for Sirius Black to go wandering around Hogwarts." Sirius shook his head. "Give me a little bit of credit."

"Well, it's not like you haven't done it before," Remus reminded him.

"And even then I was still Padfoot," Sirius shot back. "You do know the only reason I haven't gone to Hogwarts already, was because I was waiting for you."

"It must have been very hard to practice that kind of patience," Remus teased. He went over to the fireplace and grabbed some floo powder off the mantel; throwing it into the fire, Remus knelt down and put his head in the fire. "Hogwarts, Headmaster's office."

Dumbledore looked up from the papers he was working on and smiled over at the fireplace. "Ah, Remus. And to what do I owe this pleasure?" Dumbledore asked turning slightly in his chair to face the fireplace.

"Sirius and I were curious if Harry was available? Since he was supposed to come here for Christmas, Sirius is worried about why Harry didn't," Remus said, though in truth he too was worried, but he played it right, then Dumbledore wouldn't just be able to wave it off by saying Harry was fine. Because there was no telling what Sirius would do when it came to Harry.

"Yes, I see. Well there were some things that came up, that prevented Harry's return home. I am sure you have heard that young Mr. Weasley and Harry have been fighting again. It would not have been good to send them both home, best to give them time to cool off," Dumbledore said.

"Then it shouldn't be a problem for Sirius and I to come through and visit with Harry. Or maybe he could just come through to our end." Remus suggested.

"I am afraid Harry isn't up for travel at the moment. But yes, you two may come through, provided you take the right precautions." Dumbledore said; and so it was that a moment later both Sirius and Remus were stepping through his fire place dusting themselves off.

"Before I let you two see Harry, I think I should inform you of a few things that have happened." Dumbledore told them, as he motioned for both Remus and Sirius to take a seat, so he could tell them about the current predicament that Harry found himself in.

**B**

Harry only remained asleep for half an hour; he was woken by Blaise who had returned with the pain relief potion. "Don't need it anymore," Harry said pulling a pillow over his head, intending to go back to sleep. The pillow was removed by Draco.

"You do need it. If I take it, it's not going to stop the pain since I'm not the one in pain," he snapped; Harry flinched at the harsh tone before forcing himself to sit up.

"If I take it, can I go back to sleep?" He asked.

"I think it would be best if you tried to eat something before sleeping more," Blaise said. "And you do also know that you can't avoid talking to Draco and I, no matter how much you sleep," he pointed out, handing the phial of potion to Harry.

"I can just refuse to talk to you," Harry argued back and then downed the potion, making a face of disgust. "Why do they have to always taste so bad?"

"Because if you add anything to the potion to help with the flavour, it will ruin the effects of the potion," Draco informed him. "If you ever paid attention in class, you would know that."

"Don't start with me, Draco." Harry glared at him before shifting to start getting out of bed.

"Should you really be getting up?" Draco asked. Harry's only response was to shrug as he pulled himself up out of bed; reaching to the nightstand, he grabbed his glasses and put them on.

"You and Blaise aren't going to let me sleep some more, so there's no point in laying in bed." Harry leaned slightly on Blaise when he felt a little light headed; he didn't stay there long though, after he realised what he was doing, and Harry pushed himself away from Blaise. "I'm fine, I don't need any help," he said stumbling his way across the room.

Blaise followed him, noticing how unsteady Harry still seemed on his feet, and figured it would be bad if Harry hurt himself if he fell. Draco, however, remained where he was just watching Blaise and Harry. Blaise staying close enough to catch or help Harry if needed, and Harry refusing to really even look at Blaise, let alone accept any help from him. It may have been because of the talk he and Harry had had earlier, or maybe it was the bond. But he could tell that Harry was refusing the help from Blaise, because he didn't want Draco to get the wrong ideas again. The black haired boy was purposely pushing Blaise away, closing himself off from what he actually wanted, in order to make sure Draco didn't get jealous of him again.

Draco let this go on for a few minutes before he had enough; he couldn't stand watching Blaise hovering like that. But it was Harry that was getting to him. He really was willing to hurt himself, to make sure that others would be happy. Draco was moving before he even knew what he planned on doing. He looked Harry over, even though they were close to the same height, Draco knew from earlier that the boy was far lighter then he appeared. Making it very easy for Draco to lift him right off his feet.

"Wha! Hey! Put me down!" Harry protested to being picked up.

"Stop flailing around before I drop you on your arse," Draco snapped, though there was no irritation, or hatred through the bond with those words. Draco carried Harry out and set him down on the couch. "Blaise and I worked to get your fever down as much as we did, the last thing any of us need is for you to be stubborn and push yourself into a relapse." Draco looked down at Harry who was staring back up at him with an almost stunned expression. It was the words that Draco was not saying that had caught Harry's attention.

"Thank you." Harry smiled and settled down onto his seat, he accepted the blanket that Blaise brought over to him.

"I requested that the house elves bring Christmas dinner to our rooms tonight," Blaise said. "Since I don't think Harry should be walking to the Great Hall tonight."

"Dumbledore let you do that?" Harry asked.

"I did, and I do not see a problem with it," Dumbledore said from the doorway, catching the three boys by surprise. "I heard that Harry was feeling under the weather today, and I came to see if he was doing any better," the Headmaster explained with a smile.

"I am feeling better sir. It was just a small cold, I forgot to wear warmer clothes when I went flying yesterday," Harry admitted, though he knew that there was more to it than that. But he didn't think now would be the time to mention that he had seen Draco meeting with Voldemort.

"I trust you will be more careful in the future?" Dumbledore asked and Harry laughed.

"Not likely. But I will try." He smiled when Dumbledore chuckled.

"Yes well, there is another reason for my visit here. Harry, I thought since you were unable to return home for the holidays, you might be up for a couple visitors." Dumbledore turned to open the door, looking back at Harry when a large black dog darted into the room and jumped on the couch with Harry, licking his face all over, only to be pulled off by Remus.

"Really, he still has a cold and all you can do is jump on him." Remus shook his head, looking back at Dumbledore, who just appeared to be amused at the whole thing.

"I shall have some extra food sent up from the kitchens with your own dinners. I will allow you to enjoy your visit. And Merry Christmas, Harry," Dumbledore said. Harry grinned back at him, as the black dog was climbing back up onto the couch next to him.

"Merry Christmas," Harry replied and laughed as the black dog started licking his face again.

Draco was amazed, he couldn't remember ever seeing Harry look this happy. Even though the bond, he could tell that Harry was truly happy at this very moment. He nudged Blaise, and the two of the backed away for a little while, to let Harry have his moment with his family.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has an enjoyable Christmas.

A HUGE thanks to my beta reader! Who took my mess of a chapter and made it awesome <3  
Unwanted bonds

Chapter 13

Harry sat on the sofa laughing as the giant black dog jumped up on him, tail wagging excitedly as he licked Harry's cheek.

"Alright, alright. That's enough." Harry laughed some more, sitting up as Sirius sat back on the sofa, though the animagus seemed to excited to actually be able to keep his tail still. Harry was then able to turn his attention to Remus, who had been watching them both with a look of amusement on his face.

"What are you two doing here?" Harry asked, quite surprised to see them. He had resigned himself to the fact that he would not be seeing his godfather this holiday, given that Sirius was still on the run.

"We heard that you had decided to remain at school for the holidays and got worried, since we had been expecting you and there had been no owl explaining why you were staying," Remus said, watching as Harry's smile faded and the young man looked down at his lap.

Why hadn't he thought of sending a letter? Harry asked himself. He should have known that Sirius and Remus would be expecting him. But between the fight with Ron, and the bond he now had with Blaise and Draco, he had been distracted.

Harry glanced in their direction; both of the Slytherin boys had remained quiet, giving Harry his time with Remus, though neither boy had left the common room. Looking back at Remus, Harry sighed.

"I'm sorry. I never even thought of sending a letter," Harry admitted.

"We're not angry, Harry. Dumbledore explained a bit of it to us; he said that something happened that made it difficult for you to leave for the holidays. We were just hoping that you would be able to tell us what those things were," Remus said, gently pushing the black dog off the sofa so that he could sit next to Harry.

"It's complicated," Harry said, giving the black dog a small smile when it licked his hand. "I don't really know how start," he admitted, looking again to Blaise and Draco.

"Does the explanation have something to do with Mr Malfoy and Mr Zabini?" Remus asked, watching as Harry nodded his head. "Then might I suggest that they take a seat and join us?" Remus looked to the other two boys in the room as he said this. "If you two are part of it, perhaps you can help with the explanation?"

"And what makes you think I even want to talk to a werewolf?" Draco questioned rather aggressively. Harry stared at him.

“What's wrong with him being a werewolf?” Harry asked. “It's not a full moon tonight, and even if it was, he's not dangerous right now.” Harry never understood why people hated werewolves. It wasn't like any of them had asked to be changed into the dark creatures.

Draco narrowed his eyes at Harry. “Because he is a dangerous creature, whether it's the full moon outside or not, it doesn't change the fact that he is a werewolf. And there have been plenty of werewolves that attack people when they are supposedly 'not dangerous',” Draco said, and wished almost instantly that he had kept his mouth shut. The anger that Draco felt coming from Harry was enough to have him stumbling back.

“It's alright, Harry.” Remus put a hand on Harry's shoulder, he was used to the way people acted towards him, and he didn't think it was worth Harry getting upset over.

“But it's not right!” Harry said loudly. “You're only dangerous during the full moon, and even then, you wouldn't be dangerous if people would be willing to make you that potion for you!” Harry was angry; he hated the fact that Remus was feared and hated, just because he was different. Judged him for something that wasn't even his fault to begin with. “You never asked to be bitten! No one would willingly ask for something like that.”

Harry could feel his anger rising, as could Draco, who watched him. Blaise was watching him closely as well, because he could feel Harry's magic building up right along with the other boy's anger.

“It's not right, Harry, but that's the way things are,” Remus tried to explain, Harry wasn't the first person to get angry on his behalf, but this isn't what Remus had wanted to talk about on Christmas.

Harry gave no indication that he had even heard what Remus had said, he was trying to calm himself down, for his own sake as much as Draco's. It was going to take some getting used to for Draco, to have the bond open like this, and the sudden rise in anger from Harry probably didn't feel all that great to the blond. But as he tried to hold his anger in check, his control slipped on his magic.

Sirius could tell that something was off about Harry. He had been content to sit next to Harry as a black dog, and just listen to the conversation, he had seen Harry angry before, that was apparently another thing that Harry had inherited from his mother, Lily had always had a temper. But Sirius hadn't had any time to amuse himself with this thought, as Harry's anger vanished quickly and was replaced with something close to fear. And that was a look that Sirius hadn't seen on Harry before, even after the Tri-Wizard tournament last year. Getting up on all four paws and staring at Harry, Sirius barked, trying to get Harry's attention, wanting to know what it was that had suddenly made Harry look so frightened.

Blaise moved quickly over to Harry, as soon as he knew that Harry wouldn't be able to pull it back in on his own; pulling the smaller boy off the sofa, he wrapped his arms around him.

“I'm sorry.” Harry said, his voice muffled as his face was hidden in Blaise's chest. Blaise didn't know what Harry was apologising for, but continued holding him until the magic slowly started fading away.

“You're fine, Harry,” Blaise told him, gently pushing Harry away and looking down at the smaller boy, frowning when he saw the flushed cheeks. Putting his hand on Harry's, forehead Blaise sighed. “Your fever is coming back.” He sat Harry back on the sofa, standing next to, so he could remain close by just in case.

“It's because he got angry, and his magic...” Draco said. “He can't have another potion for at least another couple hours.” Draco was uncomfortably aware of the fact that Remus and that large black dog were watching both him and Blaise closely as they tended to Harry, Blaise making him comfortable on the sofa again, while Draco went and got a cold cloth from the bathroom. Harry tried to protest, also aware that Remus and Sirius were watching and would definitely want an explanation now. That and Harry was not used to having people take care of him like this.

“I'm fine.” Harry insisted as Draco put the cloth on his forehead, only to have his hand batted away by Harry who held it there himself, enjoying how the cloth felt on his burning skin.

“It won't kill you to let someone help you once in a while,” Draco said, having picked up on Harry's thoughts through their bond, but he backed away from the sofa, Blaise following him, now that Harry's magic was settled again. Both of them sitting in the vacant chairs close by.. Harry didn't answer Draco, but instead turned his attention back to Remus.

“I suppose you're about ready for that explanation now?” Harry asked, noticing that Remus seemed to have a firm hold on the back of Sirius's neck.

Remus nodded. “That would be appreciated,” he said keeping hold of Sirius, who had been ready to bite Blaise before, when he had pulled Harry off the sofa. “I think it would be best to start with what just happened,” Remus suggested.

Harry looked at him and then over at Blaise and Draco, wondering if one of them wanted to start the explanation, but neither of them spoke; Draco obviously still didn't want to talk to Remus, but was staying for the discussion anyway, probably in order to stop Harry from getting angry again. Harry looked back at Remus again. “I've been having trouble controlling my magic,” Harry said. “That's nothing new to me, since I've always had trouble with accidental magic for a long time now.”

Remus nodded, he knew about Harry's accidental magic, having heard about what the boy accidentally did to his aunt right before starting his third year. “I take it, that it hasn't gotten any better?” Remus asked.

“If anything it's gotten worse,” Harry said. “I...something happened during Halloween. Hermione, Ron and I were trying to plan a summer trip this year, and I offered to pay for Ron, and well Ron didn't take that offer all that well.” Harry still didn't want to think about the fight he had had with Ron, since he still didn't really want to believe that it had been Ron to say those things to him.

“Things kind of went downhill from there," Harry told them, "and I lost my temper with him... I guess it was something that had been building up for a while because, well, I lost hold on my magic as well.” Harry was staring at his hands as his mind re-played what he could remember from that night. The anger he had felt towards Ron, and the intense pain that had come from trying to hold his magic in, only to have it turn on him instead of lashing out and hurting anyone else.

Harry took a deep breath and continued on. “The next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital wing.” He chanced a glance, not at Remus this time, but at Sirius who had his full attention on Harry. “I still don't understand all of it, but I haven't had proper control over my magic since then, and...that's why Blaise and Draco are here. Blaise helps me if my magic gets too much for me, he helps keep it in check so I don't hurt anyone. And Draco...” Harry wasn't sure how to explain Draco being here, since Draco hadn't been much help in the past couple months since the bond had been formed, but that wasn't something Harry really wanted to say, because Draco was here now. “Draco helps keep my emotions in check I suppose. If I get to angry or something.”

Remus waited to see if Harry was going to continue, but the boy seemed to be finished. Though his story left a few questions, it at least explained why Harry had remained at Hogwarts for Christmas. If the he was scared that his magic was going to get out of control and hurt someone.

“I feel like there is more to this, that you are avoiding,” Remus said, eying Harry who didn't look at him, but he nodded his head. Remus fell silent watching Harry and let go of the back of Sirius's neck, allowing the black dog to climb back up onto the sofa and shuffle closer to Harry. Harry blinked when he felt the dog practically climbing into his lap.

Looking up into Harry's face, the dog leaned forward and licked his cheek. Harry threw his arms around the dog's neck hugging him tightly. Sirius shifted himself closer and allowed Harry to hold onto him. Whatever was happening with his godson, he wanted to be here for him. Even if it meant living in the castle as a dog for the rest of the school year. Though he doubted that Dumbledore would allow that.

“I'm sorry.” Harry said his face buried in the soft fur of the black dog. Sirius wished he knew what Harry was sorry for, but he nuzzled his head closer to Harry, trying to let the boy know that whatever was wrong, he would be here for him and it would all be alright.

Draco frowned as he watched Harry with the dog. He was reminded of one of the reasons why he had kept this bond closed before. Harry's mind was a confusing mess. Harry was scared, though refused to show it, he even refused to acknowledge it in his own mind. He was also worried about what they would think if they found out about the bond, but there was no way to hide the bond forever.

Draco sighed taking a little bit of pity on Harry. He looked at Remus. “Harry's magic created a bond, between the three of us,” Draco said. Harry's head snapped up and he stared at the blond, who was still looking at Remus. “He's created two signature bonds, one with Blaise, and one with myself,” Draco explained, and was satisfied to see that Remus at least knew what he was talking about.

“You're saying Harry's magic did this on its own?” Remus asked, sounding surprised. It had been known to happen before, but it had been quite a long time since it had happened and so it was somewhat of a surprise.

“I didn't want it to!” Harry said quickly. “It just happened, and... I don't think there's any way to break it.” Harry wasn't sure why he needed to say this. Maybe it was because most people just seemed to really hate Slytherins and would in turn hate Harry for now being bonded to two of them.

“Harry, it's alright,” Remus reassured him, “Even if you wanted to, there was most likely nothing you could have done to stop the bonds from forming. Your magic was drawn to them for a reason.”

“I don't know why. I didn't mean for this to happen,” Harry said, hiding his face in his hands. His magic had chosen to bond to Blaise and Draco, who were both in Slytherin, and the sorting hat had wanted to put him into Slytherin, now Harry was thinking that perhaps he should have just let the hat do its job instead of interfering.

Draco watched Harry for a few moments, feeling his mind running in circles and just getting himself more worked up over nothing. Though you wouldn't be able to tell how upset Harry was just by watching his body language. Harry obviously had a lot of practice hiding from people.

Draco let this continue for a little while longer before he moved to stand up and help Harry calm down, before it affected his magic again. Before Draco even had a chance to fully stand up from his seat, the black dog that was still sitting with Harry jumped down to the floor, barking loudly at Harry.

Harry looked at him and watched, with growing panic, as the dog started shifting back into human form. Sirius stood there in front of Harry a moment later. “Harry, no one is going to hate you for this,” Sirius said. “And no one is mad at you either. Though it makes sense now why you didn't send an owl, and why you remained at Hogwarts,” Sirius assured him. “You don't need to beat yourself up about something that you had no control over.” Sirius looked down at his godson.

“Sirius...why...?” Harry asked staring up at him, and then cast worried looks towards Blaise and Draco. Both of them were also staring at Sirius; Blaise looked ready to grab his wand at any second, and Draco looked from Sirius to Harry and back again; Harry assumed that Draco was so calm because he could feel that Sirius was no threat through the bond. Blaise however, had no such luxury.

“I suppose there is a good explanation as to why you are posing as Harry's dog?” Blaise asked, obviously on edge about the sudden appearance of a wanted man in their common room.

“No, not really.” Sirius said turning to face the two Slytherin's, grinning widely. “Well, there is an explanation, don't know if it's an actual good one.” Sirius shrugged, but made no attempt to even tell the them what his reason was. “So, you two are now bonded to my godson. How strong is it? And how possible is it that one of you might turn on him?” Sirius asked narrowing his eyes, particularly at Draco. He was far from pleased about the fact that Harry was bonded to the son of a death eater. And the fact that it was a Malfoy made it that much worse.

“It's not possible.” Blaise said. “Though none of us have actually tested the bond, the last thing I want to do right now is hurt Harry. The bond has insured that any ill feelings we had towards each other before, while possibly still there...” Blaise glanced at Draco when he said this, since it had been just that morning that Draco had fully opened the bond with Harry, “...those feelings towards him are being changed, or at the very least masked over,” Blaise explained, watching Sirius carefully. Somehow it was as though the man just didn't seem to carry himself like Blaise had imagined a murderer would.

“Masked over?” Remus asked, breaking into the conversation before Sirius could say anything else.

Blaise looked at Remus and nodded. “Yes, I know that before Halloween I was less than fond of Harry. And now, it doesn't seem to matter much anymore. Because I'm supposed to be the one to protect him.” Blaise looked over at Harry, who was staring at both Blaise and Draco.

“And what about little Malfoy?” Sirius asked.

“None of your business,” Draco said glaring at Sirius.

“I think it is my business, seeing as how you are now bonded to my godson I would like to know how safe he is going to be stuck with you.” Sirius's eyes narrowed and Draco slowly moved his hand towards his wand.

Harry jumped up from the sofa and stood between Sirius and Draco. Harry swayed slightly on his feet, the sudden movement making him feel a little light headed, and Blaise moved to stand behind him in case Harry fell.

“Why do you keep insisting on acting as if you're not still sick?” Blaise asked, wrapping his arms around Harry's middle, holding tighter when Harry tried to pull away. Harry ignored the question, and when Blaise didn't let go, he decided to ignore the fact that he was being held up by those arms. Instead turning his attention to Draco.

“I don't want you two to start fighting. Draco, Sirius is only worried about me...and Sirius...” Harry looked back at his godfather, “...me and Draco still have a lot to work out, I think. But he's not going to hurt me.” Harry silently added 'any more'. But he was trying to trust the fact that with the open bond, he and Draco would be able to understand each other a bit better now.

When neither Sirius or Draco said anything else, Harry slowly pushed himself away from Blaise and sat back down on the sofa closing his eyes and wanting nothing more than to go crawl back into bed right now. But his stomach growling softly reminded him why Blaise and Draco had dragged him out of bed in the first place.

Blaise looked at Harry and smiled a bit. There was a loud pop, as a house elf appeared, bowing low to the ground. “Please be forgiving the intrusion, I is bringing your dinner,” the house elf said and, snapping its fingers, five trays appeared, each holding a plate full with Christmas dinner.

It was kind of tense as they moved over to the table, that Remus had transfigured. As they took their seats, nobody really knowing what to say to anyone else. Harry was glad for the meal his body was apparently desperate for and so decided to not wait for the others to take their seats around him before he dug in.

They ate in silence, until Sirius decided he was done eating, and it was time to open the crackers. Harry laughed as Sirius picked up one of the weird looking top hats that had exploded out of the cracker and attempted to put it on Remus, who quickly ducked out of the way to avoid Sirius, before vacating his spot. But this didn't stop Sirius from trying to catch Remus and get the hat on him. Only to be hit over the head with the cracker that Remus had in his hand; this cause it to exploded open over Sirius's head, causing Harry to laugh even harder.

Draco looked watched them as well, with a lot less amusement then Harry, or even Blaise were. “I fail to see what's so funny about two grown men acting like children,” Draco said rather pompously, clearly thinking himself their superior. Harry looked over at him. “Their actions are ridiculous,” Draco continued and Blaise rolled his eyes at his boyfriend.

“What does it matter? They're having fun, and Harry seems to be enjoying it.” Blaise grinned over at Draco, who huffed and finished his drink, setting the cup back down and watching as the dishes vanished from the table.

“Do they have to be so loud though?” Draco continued complaining.

Harry looked over at him again; this time he hadn't so much heard Draco, as felt his annoyance. He didn't say anything to Draco, but looked back at Sirius and Remus, and when they ran past where he was sat; Harry sat up an with reflexes that showed exactly why he was the seeker on the Gryffindor team, and snatched the hat right from Sirius's hands.

Sirius looked confused at the sudden loss of the hat and he stared at his hands for a few seconds before looking at Harry who was grinning at him. “Aww, Harry what was that for? I almost had him.” Sirius grinned back, though he wasn't going to complain too much about his fun being cut short. It had been worth it to hear Harry laugh like that, and to still see him grinning. Sirius decided he enjoyed Harry looking this happy and was going to do whatever he could to make sure Harry would have more reasons to smile like this.

“You were getting to loud.” Harry said, shifting himself over to the sofa as Sirius climbed over the back of if, instead of going around, to sit next to Harry.

“Loud is what I do best,” Sirius told him with a shrug.

Harry sighed, shaking his head as he shifted himself again on the sofa, so he could rest his head on his godfather's shoulder, smiling when Sirius shifted as well so that he could have his arm around Harry. It was very comforting, being able to sit there on Christmas with Sirius. Harry was still smiling; after everything that had been happening, this was the best thing that could have happened to him.

It didn't take long for Harry to feel himself slowly slipping off into sleep. His scar wasn't hurting and his head was no longer pounding. The lingering feeling of Draco in the back of his mind, for the first time since Halloween, held no anger towards him, and his magic didn't feel like a burning fire under his skin. He felt relaxed and very drained at the moment.

Sirius shrugged his shoulder gently. “You should stay awake a little while longer, kiddo,” he said and Harry looked up at him, pouting a little; but he righted himself and shook himself awake none the less. “If you fall asleep now, you won't get any of your presents,” Sirius pointed out and Harry stared at him, looking a little confused. No one had said anything about presents.

“What? Did you think Remus and I would show up on Christmas and not have anything for you? Molly even sent you a couple presents as well,” Siriustold Harry with a wide grin.

“Mrs Weasley sent me presents?” Harry couldn't keep the tone of surprise out of his voice; he hadn't expected anything from her, not now that he wasn't really on speaking terms with Ron.

“Of course she did, bloody mother hen that she is,” Sirius said, but Remus stopped him from saying any more, having heard his rant about Molly before. It wasn't that Sirius disliked the woman, but she seemed to constantly rub it in his face that she had more experience raising children then he did. And that she had been around for Harry while he had been stuck in Azkaban.

“So, when do I get my presents?” Harry asked, not sure he would actually be able to stay awake much longer, but he didn't know if he was supposed to ask for them or not.

“I think they should give them to you now; you're still sick,” Blaise pointed out. “We don't need your fever coming back, so you should probably get some rest soon.” He stood up and went over to check Harry's temperature when he said this.

“I feel fine now, I slept before, and I ate something. I'm fine,” he said waving Blaise off and glancing in the direction of Draco.

The blond caught the look and frowned. He didn't think that he would ever be thrilled with the attention that Blaise was giving Harry. But at the same time, Draco couldn't help but think about the conversation that he and Harry had had; so keeping that in mind, he sent a wave of reassurance towards Harry, that earned him a smile before Harry's attention was captured by Sirius again. Draco could only shake his head; his cousin really was like an over grown child.

Blaise decided to allow Harry to continue having his time with his family. And so, backing up, Blaise sat back down in his chair next to Draco and watched quietly while Harry unwrapped the pile of presents that Remus had shrunk to carry around in his pocket.

The first present that Harry opened was his usual sweater from Mr. Weasley, however this time there was also a matching scarf. Both of them were green, which caused Sirius to make a face about the color. “Maybe she thinks you're in the wrong house?” Sirius asked picking up the scarf to look at it. And Harry blushed a little looking down so he wouldn't meet his godfather's eyes. He wasn't about to tell anyone that he was maybe supposed to be in Slytherin, if what the sorting hat had said was true.

“She thinks I look good in green.” Harry shrugged, remembering that Mrs. Weasley had also gotten him green dress robes the year before.

“Just because it's green, doesn't mean it's Slytherin,” Remus said, smacking Sirius on the back of the head.

“I really don't care what color they are, Mrs. Weasley's sweaters are always very warm.” Harry pulled on his sweater, enjoying the softness of it while he continued opening up his other presents. The next present he opened was from Remus; as he ripped open the paper he looked down at the book he had.

“This was one of your Dad's favorite books while he was in school. It is what he and Sirius used to study how to become Animagi.” Remus wasn't sure he should really be giving Harry this book, but it could work in his favor if Harry did become an AnimagusI, it would give Harry an advantage if he ever got himself into a tight spot.

“Thanks, Remus,” Harry said looking around Sirius at the werewolf. Sirius took the book from Harry and looked it over.

“How did you find a copy of this thing? I thought they had stopped selling them?” Sirius asked as he looked at Remus, who shrugged.

“It's not that hard to find when you know where to look.” And Remus left it at that. Harry let Sirius flip through the book while he continued opening presents from Fred and George, and Hermione.

Fred and George had gotten Harry a miniature dragon that appeared to breath real flames, but they didn't seem to be hot at all. And Hermione's present was a homework planner, along with a book that had helpful hints about how to control accidental magic. Harry set all his presents aside; he never got a lot for Christmas, but he was always happy to at least be getting something now.

“One more, Harry.” Sirius said and handed him another present that looked like someone had wrapped it in a hurry. “This one is from me, in case you ever need me for anything,” Sirius told him as Harry accepted the present, staring at it for a moment before pulling he paper back and tossing it aside. He was now staring at a small hand held mirror, that he almost dropped when he saw not himself reflected in it, but Sirius's face.

Harry looked up sharply, and saw that Sirius had his own mirror. “These are two way mirrors. We each have one, and they work at any distance. So if you ever need me for anything, I can be there for you.” Harry didn't know what to say as he looked back down at his mirror. He would now be able to talk to Sirius whenever he wanted. No more long waits for owls to get back and forth, and it would now be less likely that it would be discovered that Harry had been in contact with his godfather for two years.

“Thank you, Sirius.” Harry said still holding onto the mirror as he sat back in his seat again feeling more drained then he had before, but he was happy.

“Harry.” Blaise's voice was fading in and out and it was with a great effort that Harry opened his eyes; he hadn't even realised that he had closed them. “Let's get you back to bed,” Blaise said, gently pulling Harry to his feet. Though he didn't stay there long as Sirius stood up and lifted Harry easily. Harry being too tired to protest to this just sighed and rested his head against Sirius's shoulder, still holding onto the mirror that he had been given.

Sirius followed Blaise down the hall to Harry's room, where he tucked the small boy into his bed and made sure he was warm enough. Sirius gently pried the mirror from Harry's hand and set it on the bed side table next to his glasses. “Sleep well Harry,” Sirius said.

TBC

 

Sorry for the extreamly late update! HOpe you enjoyed it!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Okay! First I would like to apologise for the long wait in this chapter, but I would like to say, no matter how long it takes for an update. This fic will not die. I am actually enjoying writing this a lot and I would like to see it finished. But I don't want to rush through it either. So enjoy!

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 14

Christmas holiday, not something Harry had ever looked forward to before. There were obvious reasons why he never liked the holiday during his childhood; his first year at Hogwarts, the first Dursley free Christmas was one that Harry was never going to forget. Although the novelty of not being at the Dursley's for his holiday had worn off slightly, he still loved staying at Hogwarts for the week. 

This year, however, Harry could say he was nearly as excited as he had been his first Christmas at the castle; though he couldn't say that he got anything productive done. But that was okay, because what made this Christmas so precious for Harry was that he got to spend it with his Godfather. 

Dumbledore had allowed Sirius to stay in school, as long as he was not seen by the other students who were also staying. And Harry couldn't have been happier, even if he had to remain in bed for the first two days to ensure that his cold didn't get any worse. Even then he still had Sirius for company.

As for Sirius, he was just glad to be out of the house that he had been cooped up in for months. Though there were always plenty of people around, Sirius still managed to find himself alone in the large house most of the time, unless Remus was visiting. But this week, he was free, and determinant to spend time with Harry, getting to know his godson; something that had been denied him time and time again. Even being out of prison he had not had the time to just sit and talk with Harry. 

So for the first two days, that's what they did. Sirius kept Harry company while the boy had to remain in bed under the watchful eyes of both Blaise and Draco. But for all Harry's complaining about not being able to get up, Sirius noticed that he was enjoying the attention from the other two boys. 

When Sirius and Harry talked. Harry would talk about school and what he liked; though even if Sirius asked him, Harry didn't say much about the bond he was now in with Blaise and Draco. Sirius wondered if it was because Harry didn't know much about it, or if he truly didn't want to talk about it. Either way the conversation would change quickly from there, either over to Quidditch or what subjects Harry liked best in school, simple things that Harry had never been able to talk to Sirius about. Or any grown up for that matter. 

Sirius also noticed that Harry avoided talking about his home life, even more then he avoided talking about the bond. “It's not that bad.” was the only answer Sirius could ever get from Harry when he asked. 

Blaise and Draco didn't keep their distance over those first few days that Harry and Sirius spent together, but they did try to give the two of them some privacy. Both of the Slytherins seemed to realize how important it was for Harry to spend time with his Godfather; even though Blaise didn't trust the man, and Draco didn't much care for him either, neither of them said anything against him, just glad that at least the crazy man wasn't staying in their rooms with them. 

**_**

It had taken several days before Blaise was satisfied that Harry wasn't going to fall sick again, and that he was well enough to be allowed out of bed. However, it was just three days before the end of the holidays for Harry to finally be up to actually going outside. In celebration of this regained freedom, Harry and Sirius had decided to go down to the Quidditch pitch and, if they were lucky, they hoped to be able to do some flying, so long as no one else was around to see Sirius. 

There was a soft knock on Harry's door as Harry pulled his shirt on, getting dressed to go meet with Sirius outside. “Who is it?” he called out, quickly buttoning up his shirt and started to hunt for his Weasley jumper that he had gotten for Christmas. 

“It's Draco, may I come in?” the blond asked. 

“Draco? What do you want?” Harry asked, pulling stuff out of his trunk trying to find where the jumper had landed. 

“It is very inconvenient to have a conversation through the door,” Draco replied.

“Oh, sorry,” Harry said, as he hurried over and opened the door, letting the blond boy in. 

Draco stepped passed Harry and looked around the room, taking note of the things that had just been tossed out of Harry's trunk, and were now spread across the floor. “You really should organize your things better,” Draco commented as he turned to face Harry.

“Did you really just came in here to criticize how I keep my room?” Harry asked crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Uh, no, not really. I was just saying that it is easier to find things if they're organised,” Draco pointed out.

“Now you're starting to sound like Hermione,” Harry said, rolling his eyes and going back to looking for his jumper under the bed. Draco watched with curiosity as Harry actually crawled under the bed, obviously looking for something. 

“Ha! Found it!” Harry announced suddenly and he came out, pulling the Weasley jumper with him. Shaking it out a couple times to get rid of any dust that it might have collected from under the bed, Harry pulled it on. And Draco shuddered at the thought of anything like that ever touching his skin. 

“So, was there something you wanted?” Harry asked looking at Draco.

“I wanted to ask if you would like to join Blaise and I for dinner on New Year's Eve?” Draco asked. Harry stared at Draco; that was a question he hadn't expected. 

“Dinner? With you two?” Harry asked with a frown, whirling that idea around in his head. “Why?” was the only thing Harry could really think of to say. Things were better with the three of them, but in Harry's opinion, they were a long way from having a special dinner together. 

“Do I have to go into full details? Or would it be better if I just gave you the short version?” Draco asked smirking a little at the confused look on Harry's face.

“Short version is fine," Harry said slowly, keen to get going so that he could enjoy as much time outside with his Godfather as possible. "But I may ask for the full details after, if I am not satisfied with what you tell me,” Harry admitted unapologetically. 

“Full version then,” Draco said with a sigh; he wasn't about to repeat the whole thing twice and would rather just explain fully now. “You Blaise and I are all bonded together, and, as far as we know, there is nothing we can do to change this any time soon, if ever,” Draco began, and Harry was surprised at how the blond just jumped right into the explanation like that. It hadn't even been a week since Draco had opened the bond fully, and Harry hadn't even put much thought into it, but apparently Draco had.

“Because of this,” Draco continued, “I think it best that you and I should make more of an attempt at doing more than just tolerating each other. I thought all three of us having dinner together would be a good start,” Draco explained; though this was only part of it. He still had to break the news to Harry that they would be dining with Draco's mother.

“Oh, well. Um. Okay then,” Harry said, a little surprised that Draco was managing to be so reasonable about the whole situation; he actually felt a little guilty that he had been avoiding thinking about the bond, but he was willing to try and make this work, particularly if Blaise and Draco were prepared to put some effort into it.

“There's more,” Draco said, as Harry turned to reach for his shoes, thinking that they were done talking. “We will also be having dinner with my mother," he said when Harry turned to him with a questioning expression. "She has already sent the portkey that will take us to the restaurant that she has reservations at,” Draco continued, watching Harry; he couldn't quite read the other boy's expression, but he felt his emotions flare almost instantly. Draco felt for a moment that perhaps he should have had Blaise there as well.

“So it won't be just you and Blaise I will be having dinner with?" Harry asked, but he didn't even give Draco a chance to respond before he adamantly said, "I can't go.” Harry shook his head. He did like Draco's idea; if they were going to be stuck together, they might as well find a way to live with each other; but to have dinner with Draco's mother... He shook his head harder. 

“No, I can't do it. Draco, it's a good idea, and I do want to try harder to get along with you and Blaise," he said, not wanting the blond to think that he was just being difficult, or pushing them away after all the progress that the three of them had been making. "But your parents HATE me," he went on, "and even if the bond would prevent you from handing me over to Voldemort, what's to stop your mother carting me off to that mad man?” Harry's thoughts seemed to go downhill from there, though he didn't voice any of them; it just seemed to hit him that, because of the bond, Harry was effectively cutting Draco off from his parents. Sure, they might support Voldemort, and Lucius was an evil bastard at the best of times, but they loved their son. And now, because of him, Draco had practically lost both is parents. 

Draco had no clue what Harry was thinking, but he could feel Harry's rising panic, and there was sadness and guilt there too; the other boy was working himself up over nothing. Moving forward Draco put one hand on Harry's shoulder and the other under his chin, he lifted Harry's head. “Look at me Harry,” he said firmly, and green eyes looked up into ice blue ones. 

“You need to calm down," Draco said sternly. "Try not to over think things before I can explain. My father will not be there, it is just my mother. And she does not support the Dark Lord, she never has.” Draco ensured that his voice remained soft, and kept Harry's attention on him. The smaller boy had already worked himself up, and it would take more than this to calm him down; but Draco was glad that at least it wasn't getting worse. 

“She will support whatever decision I have made," Draco informed him. "And by accepting the bond between us, I can no longer take the Dark Mark. She will be more happy, then anything else, that you have helped put a wall between the Dark Lord and me. It is also best that my mother knows about the bond between us, because then it will be easier to explain to her why I am unable return home any more.” Draco said hoping that Harry would be able to understand better now. 

“So, I won't be handed off to a mad man?” Harry asked. "You absolutely sure?"

“You will not be handed off to anyone, Harry," Draco said, still looking Harry directly in the eye as he spoke. "I promise; neither I, nor Blaise, will allow that,” Draco told him, smiling when he felt Harry start to relax. 

Harry let out a heavy sigh and lowered his head. “I'm sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn't mean to overreact like that...” 

“Overreacting is kind of what you do though,” Blaise said from the doorway; both Harry and Draco turned quickly towards the door, surprised by the interruption. “Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I felt your magic flaring up, and thought I better come see what Draco had done to you now,” Blaise explained; he was only teasing and Draco knew that, but Harry apparently hadn't picked up on it. 

“Draco didn't do anything!” Harry said quickly, not wanting Blaise to get upset with Draco when they had actually been managing pretty well on their own for once. “He was just telling me about dinner plans for New Year's Eve and...that his mother would be there, and well...” Harry tried explaining, not wanting to go into too much detail about what had been going through his mind. 

Blaise laughed. “Harry, I was teasing,” he said as he reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. 

Harry glared at him. “Hey, hands off!” he huffed. 

“It's not like it looks any different than it did before,” Draco pointed out, looking at the mess of hair on Harry's head. “Really, do you ever brush it?” 

“Why is this turning into a conversation about my hair?” Harry asked. “And yes, I do brush it.” He huffed again crossing his arms over his chest. Blaise laughed shaking his head and reached out to ruffle Harry's hair again; Harry, however, ducked out of the way, his arms flying up to cover his head. 

“Hands off, Zabini!” Harry glared at Blaise again, making the Italian boy laugh even harder. Harry ignored him and looked at Draco. “If we're done talking, I'm late meeting Sirius.,” Harry said; it wasn't like he actually needed their permission to leave but he felt better about doing it with their agreement. 

“Alright, I can tell you more details tonight," Draco said with a nod as Harry sat down on the edge of his bed and started pulling his shoes on. "And we will have to go through your wardrobe and find you something suitable to ware to the restaurant,” Draco added, leading the still chuckling Blaise out of the room. 

“Um, actually,” Harry called out, the two of them stopping in the doorway. “Do you two want to come down and go flying with us?” Harry asked, as he got to his feet. “I mean, I don't really want to fly alone, and Sirius will be there, but I don't know if he'll actually be able to fly with me without someone seeing him and...”

“Harry, you are absolutely adorable when you ramble, did you know that?” Blaise asked with a grin. “Let us get changed, and we'll meet you down there, okay?”

Harry's cheeks turned slightly pink and he nodded quickly. “Alright!” He grabbed his broom and hurried out of his room pausing at the end of the hall to look back at Blaise and Draco. “Don't take too long though!” he called back before he hurried off. 

“Are we really going to go flying with both of them?” Draco asked once Harry had left. 

“Unless you had other plans?” Blaise grinned as Draco turned to face him; pale arms slowly wrapped around his neck and Draco leaned in for a kiss, but stopped just short. 

“Maybe I did.” Draco said, his lips brushing against Blaise's, before capturing them in a kiss. Blaise turned with Draco, pressing the blond boy against the wall in an attempt to deepen the kiss, but Draco broke away quickly. “We should get ready and go meet Harry, wouldn't want to keep him waiting,” Draco said with a smirk. 

“Yes? Can I help you?” Draco asked teasingly, when Blaise grabbed him from behind. He turned his head slightly, allowing Blaise to pull him into another kiss. Draco couldn't stop the soft moan that escaped, right before Blaise broke the kiss and grinned at Draco. He brushed some blond hair away from Draco's face.

“My Slytherin prince,” Blaise said as his grin widened. “We'll continue what you started tonight; let's go down and meet Harry before he thinks we forgot about him,” Blaise said and Draco sighed but nodded. 

**_**

Down on the pitch, Harry was sitting on his broom waiting, not only for Blaise and Draco, but for Sirius as well. Harry had hurried down there thinking that he was late meeting Sirius, but he didn't see his Godfather anywhere, and he really didn't want to fly on his own today. 

Sighing, Harry checked the time; only five minutes had passed since the last time he had checked. Looking once more around the pitch, Harry kicked himself up higher in the air, to see if he could spot anyone coming from the castle. He still didn't spot Sirius, but he did see two figures coming down to the pitch. Grinning, Harry flew back down to the ground to meet Blaise and Draco. 

“What took you two so long?” Harry asked when they arrived. 

“Sorry, Draco had a hard time finding something he wanted to wear,” Blaise said and Harry rolled his eyes. 

“Does it really matter?" he asked. "As long as what you have on is warm enough.” Harry never understood Draco's need to be well dressed no matter what he was doing. 

Draco just shrugged and looked around frowning. “Where's your Godfather? I thought you said you were going to be meeting him down here?” 

“I was but he hasn't shown up yet. Maybe Dumbledore had to talk to him or something. I'm sure he'll be here...” Harry also looked around, hoping that he would see Sirius this time; he really hoped that Sirius was just talking to Dumbledore and hadn't tried something stupid, like sneaking off into Hogsmeade. 

“We can skip the flying and go look for him if you want,” Blaise offered, but Harry shook his head. 

“No, it's fine. I want to do some flying today. We can look for him after.” Harry mounted his broom again and kicked off. Blaise quickly followed; Draco took a moment longer before following as well. Blaise watched Harry as the Gryffindor flew around the field; while Draco not far behind as the two of them raced from one goal to the other. 

As Harry was flying across the field for the third time, he caught sight of something gold fluttering just below him. Blinking at the snitch he looked behind him and saw that Draco had also seen it. They only locked eyes for a moment before a new race started; both boys dived and started chasing the snitch all over the field. 

Blaise didn't join them. He was never good at catching the Snitch so he let Draco and Harry have their fun; he did, however, see someone, sitting over in the stands, watching them as well and decided to fly down next to the person. 

“I didn't think Harry would ask you two to come out and fly with him as well,” Sirius said once Blaise had landed next to him. 

“It's a good thing he did, since you were so late getting your arse down here,” Blaise said a little angrily as he glared at the man sitting there. 

“I know, I couldn't help being late. I was held up by that greasy bastard Snape,” Sirius growled. 

“What did Professor Snape want with you?” Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow at the man and Sirius looked over at him in annoyance. 

“None of your business,” Sirius snapped. 

“No, it's not. But you being late upset Harry, and that is my business,” Blaise pointed out;Sirius growled at him again. “You know when you growl like that, you sound a lot like a dog. Is that a side effect from being an Animagus?”

Sirius was on his feet glaring down at Blaise. “Shut up,” he snarled angrily at the teenager. 

Blaise sighed. “I was just curious,” he insisted. Sirius sat back down and looked back out at the field where Draco and Harry were still trying to catch the Snitch. 

“So this bond, it's kind of permanent isn't it?” Sirius asked.

“As far as we can tell, yes," Blaise told him. "We might find a way to break it later, but as of right now we all think it's safer not to.” Blaise sat down next to Sirius, also looking out at the two as Harry caught the snitch, a huge smile on his face as he let it go so he and Draco could start their game again. 

“How do you expect me to believe that Harry is safe stuck with two Slytherins?” 

“What do school houses have to do with anything?” Blaise asked incredulously, as he looked at the man next to him. “Draco and I being bound to Harry has nothing to do with us being Slytherin, or him being Gryffindor. And I hope you know that if Harry hears you talking like that, he really is going to think you're upset with him about this bond,” Blaise pointed out. 

“I'm not upset with him," Sirius said defensively. "I think that is impossible to be upset with him about anything. I just wish it had been someone else. I don't know anything about you, but...Malfoy?” Sirius leaned back in his seat. 

“Draco isn't his father,” Blaise said firmly; he hated it when people started comparing Draco to his father. 

“Nothing good has ever come from the Malfoy family,” Sirius said. 

“And nothing good has ever come from the Black family,” Blaise shot back and was satisfied to see the shadow crossed Sirius's face. “Though I suppose it's true that every family has an exception. Draco is the Malfoy family exception.” 

“Sirius! You made it!” Harry said, oblivious to the conversation he had cut short as he landed quickly next to his Godfather. “I was worried when I got here and didn't see you.” 

“No need to worry about me, pup, you looked like you were having fun out there. Though it didn't seem like little Malfoy was a match for you catching that snitch,” Sirius said happily with a grin. 

“He's getting better,” Harry said as Draco came and landed with them as well. “He's actually really good when he's actually focused on finding the snitch, instead of trying to taunt me.” Harry laughed at the look Draco gave him, then looked back at Sirius. “So why were you late?” Harry asked and Sirius sighed. 

“I was cornered by Snape,” Sirius said and watched Harry's face pale slightly, it appeared the boy already knew what was coming next, or at least suspected it. 

“Is it about my Occlumency lessons?” Harry asked. He knew he had missed one while he had been sick. And he had assumed, or at least hoped, that he could avoid them a little while longer. 

“Afraid so, kiddo. I'll be there with you for this one though. We can go to his office tonight, and with me there I can probably sneak you out early.” Sirius wanted to reassure Harry that it would be alright. Though he still hated the fact that Snape, of all people, had to be the one teaching Occlumency to Harry. Sirius, of course, had gone straight to Dumbledore after his run in with Snape; the headmaster, however, was insistent that Harry must continue the lessons, and that Sirius was not allowed to interfere with them. 

“No!” Harry said quickly. “No, it's fine, Sirius. I'll just go tonight and get it over with. I mean, I did miss the last lesson with him, it'll be easier to concentrate if I go alone.” Harry really didn't want Sirius to see him during the lessons with Snape, the few of them that Draco had sat in on had been bad enough. But if Sirius saw him like that...; the last thing Harry wanted was to look weak in front of his Godfather. 

Harry smiled at Sirius. “So, are we all going to continue flying?” Harry asked, but didn't wait around for an answer as he mounted his broom and kicked off into the air again. Blaise and Draco soon followed him; Sirius remained where he was though, just watching Harry as the small boy flew as if Voldemort himself was chasing him. 

“Oh, Harry, you can't out fly your problems,” Sirius sighed. He had seen James try and do the same thing countless times; the only difference was, Sirius always knew what James was running from. With Harry, he could only guess. 

**_**

It was half past six, and Harry was now standing outside Snape's office. He would have been there sooner if Blaise hadn't made him eat some dinner first. Now Harry was seriously regretting eating anything at all. His stomach was already turning just thinking about what horrible memories Snape would manage to drag up tonight. 

Lifting his hand, Harry knocked on the door, and only had to wait a moment for it to swing open. Stepping inside, the door shut behind him and he braced himself for what he knew was going to be a very long hour.

“You're late, Potter.” was Snape's greeting. 

“I'm sorry sir, but you didn't give me an actual time to be here tonight,” Harry pointed out, and didn't have any time to get ready as Snape drew out his wand and pointed it at Harry. Memories of flying that afternoon came to the surface of his mind, followed by other memories of spending time with Sirius over the last week. 

“It's so nice to see that you have had time to enjoy yourself this week. I would have thought if you had time to play with your dog, that you would have had time to practice Occlumency. Or is it simply that you don't care what the Dark Lord sees in your mind? Or is that your plan, to bore the Dark Lord to death with your dull life?” Snape sneered at Harry who glared back. 

“Shut up!” Harry shouted, and was hit with the spell again. He could feel his anger rising with his memories. He was thirteen again, standing in the Dursley's kitchen watching Aunt Marge inflate like a balloon. 

He was in second year, everyone accusing him of attacking Muggleborns. 

He was at the Dursleys' again, Dobby had just destroyed the pudding his Aunt had made. 

Snape let the spell go and looked at Harry. “You are making no progress at all.”

“How am I supposed to make progress when no one even tells me how I'm supposed to do this!?” Harry yelled. “It's not that easy to clear my mind!” 

“I find that hard to believe, Mr. Potter. From what I have seen your mind is no different than any other teenager's in this place. Full of useless anger and troubles, and you simply lash out at the most convenient target.” Snape lifted his wand again, and Harry took half a step back before the spell hit him again

Memories swam before Harry's eyes and he fell to the floor, but Snape didn't lift the spell. “Get up, boy.” Snape's voice seemed to mix with Harry's memory of his uncle. And Harry snapped; he couldn't block Snape, but he could make it so that Snape would never want to enter his mind again. 

The dungeon office was filled with Harry's scream, as he let everything go. Every memory he kept locked away; every painful word his relatives said; every beating he got from his Uncle; every time he had been left at the playground bloody and bruised whenever Dudley and his gang had managed to catch him. 

And there was nothing Snape could do to stop it as he watched every horrid memory play out in flashes, as the boy continued to scream. 

**_**

Blaise and Draco were seated in their common room playing chess, each of them taking turns checking the time since Harry had gone to Snape's office. Draco had offered to go with him, but Harry had refused, saying it was something that he had to do on his own. And unless Draco could put a shield around Harry's mind for him, he wouldn't be able to help at all. 

“He's been gone longer than usual,” Blaise said after moving one of his pieces. 

“I know,” Draco said calmly. But, as he went to move his next piece, his whole body tensed up. Looking up at Blaise quickly, he saw the other boy just as tense. 

“Harry,” Draco said, and both of them stood and were running from the room. They nearly trampled Sirius, as the black dog was coming up the stairs to their common room, but Blaise and Draco didn't stop to give any explanation. The only thing on their mind right now was that something was wrong with Harry.

Taking every shortcut they knew, they reached the dungeon office in record time and, without knocking, Draco was the first through the door; Blaise right behind him. Harry was no longer screaming, but was clearly still in pain. And Snape still had his wand on Harry. Draco's first thought was that they were both trapped in Harry's memories. But he dismissed that thought quickly, because Snape was better than that, he was doing this to Harry on purpose. 

That thought alone is what made Draco move forward kneeling on the floor next to Harry slowly pulling him up into a sitting position. Harry curled up against Draco. “I'm sorry,” Harry said softly, clinging to the blond. 

Draco glared at Snape. “Get. Out.” In an instant Snape was shoved out of Harry's mind as Draco used his own Occlumency to shield Harry's mind.

“Draco,” Snape said, his voice a combination of annoyance and surprise as he stepped forward, but the professor stopped when he realised he had two wands pointed at him. 

“Keep away from him,” Blaise hissed, stepping between Snape and his two bondmates. “Teacher or not, if you come near Harry again, I will kill you.” 

“Blaise, you need to get Harry back to our rooms. I will be right behind you.” Draco said, his own wand also pointed at Snape from where he was knelt at Harry's side. 

Blaise wanted to argue, but one look at Harry and his mind was set on getting him out of there. He kept his wand out and knelt down gently pulling Harry to his feet; Draco standing up at the same time. 

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't mean to,” Harry said softly, leaning again Blaise's side, and Blaise shot another look at Snape before he easily picked Harry up and carried him out of the room. 

“Lower your wand, Draco,” Snape said, once the other two boys had left, leaving the two of them alone. 

“No,” Draco said, holding his wand tighter as he stepped towards the professor, his hand shaking with anger. “I know you had your reasons, you always do. But I swear I will throw every hex I know at you right now. But for now, Harry's Occlumency lessons with you are over,” Draco continued, glaring at Snape as he left the office and slammed the door behind him. 

Snape let out a soft sigh leaning back against his desk. Things could have gone a lot worse than they had, but he would still have a lot of explaining to do; not just to Draco, but to Harry as well. Though, to be honest, Snape hadn't expected Harry to throw all those memories at him, the boy couldn't even hold up a shield, yet had enough control of his mind to form that kind of attack. If Harry had done it right, he probably could have been able to trap Snape in his mind. 

He pushed off his desk and composed himself. Dumbledore had a lot of explaining to do right now. Snape decided he would give Draco a day or two to calm down before he attempted to talk with his godson. 

**_**

Blaise had made it up the stairs with Harry, when he once again ran into Sirius, a short way along the corridor from their rooms. The black dog stopped and stared at Harry. 

“Not right now, Black," Blaise said, when the dog yapped at him, moving around, seemingly trying to get at the boy in his arms. "You can check on Harry back in our rooms, that's where I'm taking him.” Blaise snapped impatiently, stepping around the dog and hoping that his words would be enough to stop Sirius from transforming in the middle of the hallway. He really didn't want Sirius around at all at the moment, but it would only make the man more annoying later if he was denied access to Harry right now; and Blaise could at least admit that Harry would want Sirius around. 

Draco caught up to Blaise easily, as he was stepping into their rooms with Harry in his arms and Sirius on his heels. The black haired boy hadn't said anything since Blaise had picked him up; he just clung to Blaise, as the Italian boy sat on the sofa with him. 

"Harry?!" Sirius said in a panic, transforming the moment that Draco shut the door behind them. “What happened?” he demanded to know, kneeling down in front of his godson as he tried to get Harry to look at him.

“You're okay now Harry,” Draco said, sitting on the opposite side of Harry from Blaise and running his fingers through Harry's hair. He could tell that Harry was still upset; neither Blaise or Draco knew what to do for Harry, since they didn't know what had upset him. 

"Can you tell us what happened?" Blaise requested gently, as the dark haired boy clung to him.

 

“I don't know,” Harry whispered. “I didn't want him in my head any more.” Harry shuddered and Blaise tightened his arms around him. 

“What did Snape do, Harry?” Blaise asked and Harry shook his head. 

“Nothing...he did what he always does during lessons, I just..." Harry's voice trailed off and he shook his head. "I didn't want to listen any more. I don't know what I did but I couldn't stop it once I started.” Harry looked over at Draco, his eyes wide. “Did I hurt him?” Harry asked, not sure if he would be alright with having actually hurt Snape; sure, the git deserved it, but Harry wasn't really okay with the idea of having attacked someone that, in their own twisted way, was trying to help. 

“Snape? No, you didn't hurt him, Harry,” Draco said reassuringly. “But whatever happened, Harry, it hurt you.” 

“But...I'm not hurt,” Harry pointed out, though he was still holding on tightly to Blaise and was avoiding looking at anyone directly. 

“Maybe not physically,” Draco said, running his fingers through Harry's hair again. “But mental attacks can hurt to. Can you try to explain what happened?” 

Harry shook his head. “I don't know, I just wanted him to leave me alone, and he kept looking in my mind so....I guess I just showed him everything?” Harry looked back down. 

“Everything of what?” Blaise frowned feeling Harry tense slightly against him. 

“I don't remember now...it's not important though, is it?” Harry wasn't ready to go into details yet. He had already revealed everything to Snape, and Harry had a feeling that the potions professor wasn't just going to let something like this slide. 

“It kind of is, Harry,” Draco said. “Whatever it was, Blaise and I felt it through the bond. We thought you were in danger,” Draco explained, though there were no words to describe the over whelming fear that he had felt through the bond. 

“I don't....please, I don't want to talk about it,” Harry said, shaking his head again as he curled up closer to Blaise. Feeling all those memories as he shows them to Snape had been bad enough without having to talk about them again now. 

“Does it have anything to do with the scars on your back?” Blaise asked. Harry's breath hitched. He wished that he could just run away right now, just disappear. However, he forced himself to look up slowly; he saw Sirius's pale face and wide eyes, and knew there was no escape. 

“Yes...” Harry said; his voice was soft, but all three heard him. 

TBC

Okay, I know this is probably the most evil place to end it, considering how long it has been between updates. I am currently working on my other fic at the moment, I want to get chapter 2 done. But I have started chapter 15. So keep an eye out for it! And let me know what you all think!


	15. Chapter 15

For everyone who has waited patiently for this! Thank you! I hope it was worth the wait!

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 15

Harry closed his eyes tightly as he turned his head into Blaise's shoulder. The Italian boy didn't seem to mind at all as he tightened his hold on Harry. What surprised Harry though was Draco's slender hand rubbing soft circles on his back. Harry took what comfort he could from both Draco and Blaise enjoying the moment as much as he could.

"Harry?" Sirius' worried voice broke the silence. "What scars?" And of course he would ask the one question that Harry did not want to answer. 

Harry didn't lift his head, or make any indication that he has heard Sirius at all. "Harry?" Blaise asked, looking at the smaller boy in his lap when he didn't answer. 

Harry's only response was to shake his head; he didn't know how to answer the question, not without going into details, and that was something he was trying to shove back into the corners of his mind. Everything still seemed so vivid after the Occlumency lesson.

"Harry, please talk to us," Sirius tried again. 

"No," Harry said, shaking his head again. "Please, I don't want to talk about it."

"Talking helps." It was Draco who spoke this time. Harry glanced at him and Draco's lips curved into a small smile. "At least that's what I've heard," Draco said, his hand never stopping moving in small circles on Harry's back. 

"I just..." Harry rested his head back on Blaise's shoulder. "I can't go into details," Harry told them with a sigh. 

"Why not?" Sirius asked. Harry could tell that his Godfather was really worried, and he wished that he could give the man more of an explanation, but if he did that then he was sure that Sirius would go after the people responsible for hurting him, and the Dursley's wouldn't walk away from that meeting unharmed. 

Harry couldn't say he actually cared about the people who tormented him his whole life, but Dumbledore had explained to him why he must stay there; Harry had argued about it with the Headmaster for years, but Voldemort was back now, and the only place Harry was truly hidden and protected from the madman was Privet Drive. 

"Because I can't," Harry insisted, staring at Sirius, hoping that the man would understand and just drop it. 

Sirius frowned as he watched his Godson. "I've just never seen any scars on you before, Harry."

"I usually have a glamour on; I just didn't want people to worry about something that wasn't really a big deal." Harry looked from Sirius to Blaise then Draco. "I'm really tired, can I just go to bed now?" Harry asked but he didn't wait for a response before pulling himself out of Blaise's lap; the other boy let him go reluctantly. 

No one said anything as Harry hurried down the hall to his room, Draco waited only a moment before following. He knew it wasn't very likely that Harry would tell him anything, but Draco wanted him to know that there was someone here who could understand, without Harry having to go into details. 

Sirius also moved to follow after his Godson, but Blaise stopped him. “Let Draco talk to him right now.” 

“That's my Godson!” Sirius snapped trying to move around Blaise, only stopping when Blaise pulled his wand out, pointing it at Sirius. 

“And he is bonded to Draco and I," Blaise reminded him. "Right now Draco is the best person to talk to Harry, because he's not going to push Harry to talk about things he is obviously not ready to talk about.”

**_**

Draco knocked on the door, before opening it slowly. "Harry?"

"I really don't want to talk, Draco," Harry said, though he didn't look up from where he was curled on his bed.

"You don't have to talk, just listen." Draco walked over to the bed sitting down on the edge. "I don't know what happened to you, but I can make a few guesses," he told him, "and I also know it is one of the hardest things to tell people, because most people won't understand what it's like."

"And you do?" Harry snapped, sitting up and finally turning to face Draco. 

"I may not know exactly what you've gone through, but I am sure my guess is a pretty close," Draco said, watching Harry closely; not only could Draco feel the anger flowing from the smaller boy, but he could also see it in those green eyes.

"And if I told you that I got them here at school?" Harry asked angrily. "I'm not the most careful person around after all, always running into danger, getting myself hurt."

"Not all of those scars are from the past few years here." Draco kept his voice calm when all he really wanted to do was demand to know why Harry was avoiding this; but it was Draco's own experience that kept him calm, knowing that forcing someone to talk would do more harm than good. At least that was Draco's opinion. 

"And because we're bonded you and Blaise know me so well now." Harry said sarcastically. "It's only because you're now stuck with me that you even care!" Harry said, giving Draco an accusing glare.

Draco took a deep breath; Harry was angry, Draco knew that, but it was more anger about the situation than anything else, since the anger didn't really seem to be directed at him. "That may be part of it," the blond said calmly. He knew that Harry hadn't been serious, but he honestly thought that their bond had given him a much better understanding of the boy sitting next to him. "But it wasn't the bond that made me follow you in here to talk to you," he pointed out.

"Then why are you in here?" Harry asked, his face scrunched up with confusion.

"Your scars, there from some kind of beating." Draco wasn't expecting a reply to this, but he paused to see if Harry would at least deny it. When he said nothing Draco continued. "I'm not going to ask for details, but I've had my own fair share of 'punishments' growing up." 

Harry was still silent as he took in exactly what Draco was saying. “Your father?” Harry guessed after a few moments; it was the only conclusion that Harry could come to, remembering how Draco talked about his mother, and the way she seemed to care about her son.

Draco nodded. "And you? It's one of those Muggles you live with right?" he questioned, though he was already sure of the answer.

"Even if it is, there isn't anything that can be done, so there is no point in talking about it." Harry told Draco, looking at him with a serious expression, hoping that the blond would understand.

"There is always something that can be done about a bad situation," Draco told him firmly. He didn't like that Harry seemed to just being giving up; it certainly wasn't the boy who he had spent years fighting with. "Even if it's just talking about it," he added upon seeing Harry's sceptical expression.

Harry frowned. "This is the second time you said that talking would help. Does it really help?" he asked, an almost hopeful look on his face.

Draco shrugged before replying, "Supposedly it does, though I also admit that talking about things can be hard," he told him. "For me what helps is just the knowledge that there is someone there I can talk to, even if nothing can be done about the situation." 

“So you haven't talked to anyone either?” Harry asked, as he raised an eyebrow at Draco, who shrugged again. 

“I never said that," Draco said a little defensively; he did have Blaise to talk to after all, even if his boyfriend didn't completely understand, and his Godfather had been a lifeline in some of the hardest times. "But I did say that talking could be hard,” Draco pointed out.

“But nothing changed," Harry pointed out. "You still live at home, where your father can still punish you.” Harry really didn't see how talking about something like this could make any difference at all. 

“Plenty changed,” Draco said, determined to help Harry understand. He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a pendant that he had around his neck, holding it up for Harry to see. “Yes I still live at home, but I was given this. I've had to use it a couple times.”

Harry stared at the pendant; it looked like a normal black stone with silver wire wrapped around it. “What is it?” He looked back at Draco when the blond tucked the pendent safely back in his shirt. 

“An emergency port key," Draco told him; a smile twitched at his lips for just a second when he realised that Harry was staring at where the pendant was resting underneath his clothing. "If I ever got worried my father was going to punish me, I was instructed to use it. It would take me to a safe house where I could stay for as long as I needed," Draco explained. "So no, not a whole lot changed, but just enough did that my father hasn't been able to add any new scars to the old ones.” Draco watched as Harry looked down at his clenched hands.

“Who did you tell?” Harry finally asked. 

“My Godfather, and eventually Blaise,” Draco replied. 

Harry closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't have anyone to talk to," he said softly.

"What about your Godfather?" Draco asked. He found it unbelievable that Harry Potter didn't have anyone he could talk to.

"Sirius is great, but it's hard to talk to him," Harry huffed. "He has his own image of how I should be. I'm his best friends son, and I look so much like my father that he sometimes thinks I should just be a smaller version of the best friend that he lost. I do love him, but I don't know how he would handle any if this. I think he might go and do something stupid," Harry admitted, and Draco thought about that before nodding. 

"Dumbledore?" Draco suggested, then a frown formed on his own face at the way Harry was now laughing about that. 

"He's the reason I have to return to my relatives every summer," Harry explained, trying to regain some of his composure. "I know he means well, the idea being that having me slightly damaged and alive is better than me being dead." Harry sounded bitter as he said this, and Draco didn't blame him. If it really was Harry's relatives abusing him, and the brunet had just practically admitted it was them, then he could understand why Harry would be bitter about the Headmaster forcing him to return there each summer. 

Draco could now only ask one question. “Why?” 

“Why what?” Harry asked. 

“If they really are hurting you-” 

“I never said it was them.” Harry spoke quickly, going on the defensive. Draco sighed but continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. 

“Then why do you have to go back there every summer?" Draco asked, trying to maintain his patience in the face of Harry's defiance. "I am pretty certain that you've got other places you could go,” he pointed out.

“Doesn't matter.” Harry closed his eyes, wishing he could just curl up and go to sleep right now, pretend that the last couple hours hadn't happened. However, he knew Draco well enough to know that the blond wasn't going to give up without at least some kind of answer. “There are protections around my aunt and uncle's house," he explained. "I can't get anywhere else. I have to go there at least a few weeks every summer to make sure that the wards stay in place.” Harry was just reiterating what Dumbledore had told him; though Harry hadn't fully understood what the man was talking about, he did understand that the answer would always be 'no' when it came to the topic of leaving the Dursley's. 

Draco was silent as he thought this over, trying to figure out what kind of 'protection' Harry would have there that he couldn't have anywhere else. Draco knew about family wards, Malfoy manor had a lot of them. It kept out uninvited guests at the very least. But from Draco knew about those kinds of wards, you still needed a magical family living there to keep them active. Harry was powerful, but Draco doubted that him staying there a few days during the summer would be enough for them to be very strong. 

Draco decided it didn't truly matter what kind of wards were around the house, even if they were for Harry's protection, it didn't protect him from what happened inside the house. “I think it does matter,” Draco said sternly. “I don't know what those Muggles did to you, but if you really have to go back there just for your protection, then the simplest solution is you come with me this summer, and we both go and stay with Blaise.” Draco watched in slight amusement as Harry's mouth fell open in shock. 

Harry couldn't help but stare at Draco, “I don't know...shouldn't we ask Blaise before you just decide something like that?” 

Draco smirked, glad that Harry hadn't dismissed the idea entirely. “He won't mind," the blond said with certainty, "but if it'll make you feel better I can run it by him later.”

“It's just... I know I've been a lot of trouble recently, and I'm trying not to get between you two anymore,” Harry said softly, looking down as he started pulling at some loose strings on the bed spread. 

“We already worked that out, Harry, and it's bothering me a lot less than it was before I opened the bond completely,” Draco explained, needing Harry to understand this.

“But it still bothers you.” Harry said with a sigh, “I know it does, even without you saying anything.”

“That's because I don't share easily," Draco pointed out. "But even if it does still bother me, with the bond open, it's easier for me to ignore.” Draco reached out, putting a finger under Harry's chin and making the other boy look up at him. “If Blaise and I want, or even need time for just the two of us, we will tell you. But, Harry, the three of us are going to be bonded for a very, very long time. I'm going to have my moments of jealousy, there is no getting around that, but you and I have already worked things out once, I'm confident that we can do it again.”

Harry stared at Draco; he felt like he had been doing nothing but staring at the blond for the past few minutes. It was just the bond, Harry knew that, but he found that he was growing fond of this 'new Draco'. 

Harry gave Draco a small smile before yawning; he really was tired. Draco chuckled, his hand falling away from Harry's chin. “I didn't think I was that boring.” 

Harry's face suddenly felt very hot as he blushed. “No! It's just, I'm really tired," he explained quickly. "I was going to go to sleep before you came in here and started talking and...” Harry blushed more when Draco laughed. 

Harry let out a small yelp when he felt Draco's hands on his shoulder, pushing him down onto the bed. “Then get some sleep,” Draco insisted, as he grinned down at Harry, who was blinking up at him. Draco pulled back and slid off the bed. “I'll go let Blaise and your Godfather know that you're sleeping.”

Harry nodded, sitting up just enough to slide himself under his covers before settling down to get some sleep. He really hoped that his mind would stay nightmare free, though he didn't have high hopes for that after the lesson with Snape. 

Draco paused at the door and looked back at the smaller boy in the bed. “Oh, and Harry,” he said, waiting until green eyes at locked with his, “me and Blaise.” Draco smiled at the look of confusion that Harry gave him. “For someone to talk to, you have us.” 

Harry's eyes widened slightly. “Thank you,” he said earnestly and with that Draco left the room and closed the door softly behind him, leaving Harry to get the rest he needed.

**B**

Blaise hadn't kept his wand pointed at Sirius for very long, but he didn't put it away either. He was sure that as soon as he let his guard down, the man would try and get down to Harry's room again. So for now, the two of them had settled for glaring at each other.

“You can't stop me from seeing my godson forever,” Sirius said a little angrily, as he glared at Blaise; he had been watching for an opening for the past few minutes, either to get the wand from Blaise, or make it down the hallway to Harry's room before the Italian boy could hex him, but the Slytherin was watching him just as closely. 

“I'm not trying to keep you from seeing, Harry," Blaise said somewhat exasperatedly, "but the last thing he needs right now is for you to barge into his room and start demanding answers he either can't or won't give you,” Blaise said, trying to explain it to Sirius again. 

“Harry would be able to answer if you two would stop hovering over him,” Sirius snapped and Blaise sighed shaking his head. 

“It's pointless trying to explain it to you right now,” the Slytherin boy said, turning his attention towards the hallway when he heard the door to Harry's room open and close again. A moment later Draco came out into the common room. 

“Harry's sleeping,” he said and sat down in one of the armchairs. 

“Is he alright though?” Blaise asked, still not putting his wand away, keeping half an eye on Sirius. 

“No, not really,” Draco sighed, running a hand through his blond hair before he looked over at Sirius. “What do you think of Harry?” he asked suddenly, earning looks of confusion from both Blaise and Sirius. 

“What do you mean?” Sirius growled becoming more irritated with the fact that these two students were keeping him from talking to Harry; they had no authority over him or his godson as far as he was concerned, bonded or not. 

“I mean what do you think of him?” Draco repeated, as though it was the most simple question in the world. “Do you see him as 'The Boy Who Lived'; do you see him as some kid you should have known; do you see him as your godson; or do you just see him as a younger version of his father?” Though this was a conversation that Draco believed Harry should be having with his Godfather, he had a feeling that it was also something that Harry would avoid for a very long time. And as much as Draco disliked the man, Harry needed his Godfather, just as Draco needed his own.

“You have no right to ask me that!” Sirius yelled taking a step towards Draco, only to have Blaise's wand on him again. 

“Harry is worried that you see him that way," Draco said firmly. "He is not his father, and if you ever want him to be comfortable telling you anything, I would suggest putting some effort into remembering that.” Draco continued eyeing the man in front of him, who was looking increasingly annoyed. 

“I know who my Godson is!” Sirius said angrily, his fists clenched as he looked from Draco to Blaise, then towards the hallway where Harry was. 

“Harry is fine, he's sleeping for now. Why don't you come back tomorrow when he's awake,” Blaise suggested; with Harry sleeping Blaise saw no reason for Sirius to remain in here. 

“I have a better idea,” Draco said with a smirk. “Why don't you go and ask the Headmaster why Harry isn't living with you?”

“He can't live with me because I'm still a wanted man,” Sirius said firmly, though the two Slytherin's didn't miss the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes as he spoke. 

“Then why hasn't that been fixed?” Draco asked, raising an eyebrow at the convict. “Dumbledore knows your innocent; he had enough pull to keep Severus out of prison, why can't he do the same for you?” Draco questioned. It was something that he had been wondered this past week while Sirius had been around visiting Harry, and now, with the information about Dumbledore being responsible for Harry living with those Muggles, Draco couldn't help but think that there was more going on then they knew. 

Sirius stared at Draco, unsure of how to reply to that. He had thought nearly the same thing before, but had never asked anyone about it; no one else had seemed to find it strange, even Remus hadn't mentioned it before. But hearing someone else ask the question that had gone through his head more than once made Sirius wonder if it was something that Dumbledore could have done for him. Sirius was, however, still reluctant to leave Harry when there were so many questions to be answered. 

Draco sighed and stood up. “If I let you go and see for yourself that Harry is sleeping, and perfectly fine right now, will you leave?” he asked with exasperation, realising that Sirius simply didn't trust them to take care of Harry. If letting him see for himself that Harry was just fine was what it took to get Sirius to leave then he was all for it.

Sirius scowled at them but nodded. He followed Draco down the hall to Harry's room, the blond opening the door for him, and letting Sirius into the room. Draco didn't leave though, remaining by the door to make sure that he didn't attempt to wake Harry up. 

Sirius walked over to the bed where Harry was curled up, one of his hands clutching his pillow tightly. Sirius reached out and gently ran his fingers through Harry's hair until he saw his godson relax a little bit. Sirius turned back to look at Draco. “I will want actual answers tomorrow.”

“Can you just leave now?” Draco asked impatiently, moving aside as Sirius hesitantly left the room.

“I'll be back to see Harry tomorrow,” Sirius said firmly, not about to let them think that they could take his godson from him. He glared at Blaise, who still had his wand in hand, even if it wasn't raised, before he left completely, transforming into a dog as soon as he was out in the hallway. 

Blaise waited until Sirius was gone completely before he turned and saw Draco sitting once again in the arm chair. “Well, today has been...eventful.” 

Draco chuckled. “That's one word for it.” Draco closed his eyes and rested his head back against the chair. Blaise came over and ran his fingers through Draco's hair, smiling as the blond leaned into the touch. “I told Harry that he and I will be staying with you over the summer,” Draco said. 

Blaise raised an eyebrow at Draco, though the grey eyes were still shut as he relaxed in the chair. “Oh? And what was his response to that?” he asked curiously.

“He thought that we should ask you before I just invited him along,” Draco told him, opening his eyes and looking up at Blaise. “You know as well as I do that we can't send him back to those muggles.” 

Blaise sighed and pulled his hand away from Draco's head. “There is a slight problem with that Draco.” Blaise admitted, backing up to find his own seat.

“What kind of problem could there possibly be?" Draco asked a little snappishly. "You've seen those scars, Blaise; he won't talk about them, but there is no possible way he got them all here at school.” Draco glared at Blaise, who glared right back at his boyfriend. 

“I know that, Draco," Blaise said with exasperation. "But neither of us knew about the scars when we were first forced into this bond with Harry. I have already agreed with Dumbledore that Harry would spend at least a week with his relatives.” Blaise sighed leaning back in his own seat. It was something he had put into the back of his mind because he hadn't thought it would become an issue at all, but now he was regretting it. 

“When did you have this conversation?” Draco questioned. He was trying to think back but he couldn't remember Blaise having talked to Dumbledore alone at all recently. 

“It was when the three of us were in his office, right after Harry woke up,” Blaise explained. “He didn't go into detail about why Harry had to go back to his relatives, but it didn't really matter at the time since it meant we would have protection, and still get our summer together.”

“Please tell me you weren't stupid to make an unbreakable vow or something like that?” Draco asked, narrowing his eyes further at Blaise. 

“Nothing quite that drastic," Blaise reassured him, "just a promise that Harry would spend at least one week at home, no matter how our relationship with him progressed.” Blaise really wished he had had thought about it more before agreeing so quickly with Dumbledore at that time. 

“So, nothing life threatening if you break the promise. But probably something we don't want to suffer the back lash from,” Draco huffed. “Well this will be fun to explain to Harry in the morning.”

Blaise stood up from his seat and went over pulling Draco out of his as well. “Leave it to me then," Blaise said firmly, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend, who was still looking mildly annoyed. "The two of you just stopped fighting all the time, and I'm enjoying the peace and quiet,” Blaise teased giving Draco a quick kiss. “After all we have seen today, he won't ever go back there again. That is a promise I will make Harry myself.” 

Not really satisfied with the answer, but knowing there wasn't much they could do about it now, Draco nodded his agreement; he was going to have to trust Blaise to take care of this mistake of his. Pulling Blaise in for another brief kiss, Draco took the tan boy's arms leading him down the corridor to their bedroom. Both of them decided they would finish dealing with everything tomorrow. 

**B**

After having been all but thrown from the rooms Harry was sharing with the two Slytherins, Sirius made his way up to Dumbledore's office, trying to think of the best way to bring up the topic of his own freedom. He was grateful to Dumbledore for helping him escape the Dementors when he had been captured a few years earlier, but he had always gotten the feeling that Dumbledore could have done more. However, the Headmaster had allowed Snape to spin his own tale of the events that happened that night in the Shrieking Shack. 

As Sirius neared the Gargoyle statue, he saw a familiar set of black robes standing in front of the statue, the Gargoyle sliding aside to reveal the spiral stairs. Glad that he didn't have to transform to say the password, Sirius hurried along the corridor climbing the stairs, though making sure not to get too close to Snape. 

If the potions master noticed that a large black dog had followed him up the stairs, he made no show of it. Instead he knocked loudly on Dumbledore's door, only waiting a moment until he heard the old man's voice inviting him to enter. 

"Ah, Severus, I was not expecting to see you this evening. How did the Occlumency lessons go?" Sirius hear Dumbledore question, and was able to see the headmaster motioning for Severus to have a seat before the door swung closed.

Sirius sat outside the door, making sure he was close enough to be able to hear what was being said; he too was curious about what had happened in Harry's lesson earlier that night. The large black dog shifted, listening carefully, so he could hear both men inside the office as they spoke.

**__**

"I have discovered a few startling things about Potter," Severus said, keeping his tone calm. Dumbledore had known this man for years, and so he could easy tell that he was less than pleased about something.

"It must be serious for it to have startled you enough to speak with me about it," Dumbledore pointed out with a smile.

"It does concern your golden boy. Though I am curious as to how it has gone on this long with no one knowing about it." Severus was not someone who would usually give anyone the benefit of the doubt, but this was Dumbledore, who had his hand in nearly everything going on; it was not beyond belief that the old wizard might have overlooked something. However, Snape wasn't sure if the abuse Harry suffered was something that Dumbledore could have simply missed. 

"I am afraid you are being unusually cryptic this evening, my boy," Dumbledore said, smiling a bit more at Severus.

"I am speaking of Potter's treatment at home," Severus said impatiently, not really believing the innocent act that the headmaster seemed to be insisting on playing. "There are some things that I find very surprising for not only you to have missed, but for every member of staff to have done so as well." Severus was including himself in that list. The only explanation for him having missed it was the fact that his hatred for James Potter had carried over to the man's son, but even he could not ignore the abuse the boy had been through when it was shoved at him like it had been.

"Ah, yes," was Dumbledore's response. Not quite what Severus had been expecting. "I know his life at home is less then pleasant. He may not get the love he would have had if his own parents were alive, but I assure you it is quite necessary," Dumbledore told him, looking saddened by this, but continuing on, ignoring the pinched expression on Severus' face. "When Lily gave her life for Harry, it created a protection that lives on in her blood. Her sister, Harry's aunt, provides him with protection from dark wizards that may wish to harm him. It remains only as long as she allows him to live there," Dumbledore explained. “It is to keep him safe, Severus. You of all people should know why the boy must be kept safe." Dumbledore looked at the potions master, sitting across from him.

Severus fixed Dumbledore with a cold stare. "I am not speaking of some disagreement he had with his relatives Albus. I am talking about abuse." His voice was as cold as the look he continued giving the Headmaster. 

Dumbledore was not given a chance to answer though before Sirius, now back in his human form, barged into the office. "What the hell do you mean abuse?" Sirius raged looking from Severus to Dumbledore. 

“I see you're done lurking in the hall," Severus sneered at Sirius.

"What did you mean by abuse, Snape?" Sirius asked again ignoring the comment about lurking. He didn't care what Snape thought about his eavesdropping, his focus was on Harry and what Snape seemed to be saying had happened to his godson, what Dumbledore had apparently let happen to him.

"I was unaware there were multiple meanings to the word," Severus said with a tone of impatience as he turned his gaze back to Dumbledore.

"Sirius, I am certain that Severus is mistaken about this accusation," Dumbledore said, but his smile was gone. 

"I am not mistaken, Headmaster," Severus said indignantly. "During this evening's Occlumency lesson I perhaps pushed Potter a little too far, and as a result I was nearly trapped in his mind as he showed me everything,” Severus told them, knowing that if Dumbledore didn't do anything to fix this, then at the very least Sirius most likely would. 

“That's why Harry has scars,” Sirius said as he started to add everything up and turned to glare at Dumbledore. “You knew?” he demanded to know.

“No," the headmaster said firmly. "I did not know that Harry's neglect went any further then a few skipped meals.” Dumbledore frowned leaning back in his chair. 

Sirius screamed in rage, kicking over the empty chair that was next to Severus. The potions master was quickly out of his own chair wand out pointing at Sirius. Though it was not Severus that he was interested in; Sirius slammed his fist on Dumbledore's desk. 

“My Godson will NEVER be going back there again! He shouldn't have been there to begin with, or at the very least should have been removed from that house as soon as you knew what was happening!” Sirius shouted. Dumbledore let him, watching Sirius turn and kick over the chair that Severus had been sitting in before. 

“He may not have been loved, or cared for as much as we would have liked. But he is alive,” Dumbledore pointed out. He continued to watch as Severus kept his wand pointed at Sirius, but Sirius didn't even seem to notice that Severus was even still in the room. Sirius had his murderous glare fixed on Dumbledore.

“I want custody of my Godson,” Sirius said firmly, determined that he had to make it happen. 

“How do you plan on getting that when you are still on the run?” Dumbledore questioned calmly. “If Harry doesn't return to his aunt and uncle's house, the blood protection will fail, making him an easier target for Voldemort,” the old wizard explained patiently. 

“He's already an easy target for that mad man!” Sirius shouted. “Or have you also failed to notice how many times Harry has had to fight him already! I'll say it one more time, I want custody of Harry.”

“Sirius,” Dumbledore said firmly, “I don't think-”

“You've kept Snape out of Azkaban and he actually WAS a death eater!” Sirius bellowed angrily. “You either do something and fix this, or I will take Harry and you will never see either of us again!,” he threatened and was satisfied to see Dumbledore's eyes widen slightly. 

“I will see what I can do, Sirius,” Dumbledore sighed, realising that Sirius was serious and he was going to have little choice. It would not be an easy task, but there had to be something he could do. “Why don't you return to Grimmauld Place, and I will contact you,” Dumbledore suggested. 

“No, I am going to remain here for the rest of the holiday as planned,” Sirius told him, turning and storming across the office. He opened the door and gave Dumbledore another glare before he left the office, slamming the door behind him. He hoped that Dumbledore knew him well enough to know that he would, and could, take Harry and vanish; he would have the help of Harry’s bonded Slytherins too, if it came to that. 

Dumbledore sighed once Sirius had left the office. “That could have gone better,” he said and looked at Severus. “I don't suppose you know of any way we could grant his request?” 

“I believe that was more of a demand, Headmaster.” Severus said drily. He didn't blame Sirius for being angry; he didn't like the man, and a couple years ago he would have been willing to send him back to Azkaban innocent or not, but now, even Severus had to admit that Sirius Black might be the best chance for Harry to get out of his aunt and uncle's care. “I would think you still have enough influence in the ministry to see about getting him a trial, particularly given he was never given the one he was entitled to. Perhaps demand he be questioned under truth serum,” the potions master suggested. 

“That is one option. We could also attempt to help the Ministry get their hands on Peter,” Dumbledore said, standing up from his chair and going over to look out the window. Severus watched him, noticing that the Headmaster at that moment was truly looking his age. He did feel a small twinge of guilt for putting Dumbledore in this position, but any amount of guilt he might feel was smothered as soon as he thought of what he had seen in Harry's mind and the headmaster’s part in what had happened to the boy. 

“Is there anything else you wish to discuss with me, Severus?” Dumbledore didn't look away from the window as he asked this. 

Severus knew a dismissal when he heard one. “No,” he said and walked around the upturned chair, leaving the office. 

**B**

The next morning had Blaise rolling over in bed far earlier then he truly wanted to be up. There was a small sound of protest from Draco, as the still sleeping boy moved to try and find the warm body that had just been lying next to him. Finding Blaise's pillow instead, the blond wrapped his arms around it drifting further into sleep once again. 

Blaise shook his head fondly, pulling the blankets up over Draco before he went out to the common room. It was far too early to be awake, the sun wasn't even up yet, but Blaise didn't think he could get back to sleep right now even if he tried. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened the previous night between Harry and Professor Snape; the pull from Harry had been so intense, and the sight of Harry crumpled on the floor when he and Draco had burst into Snape's office had really hit him hard. Blaise had truly been ready to kill his professor after seeing Harry like that. 

Blaise entered the common room and saw the person who was currently occupying his thoughts. Harry sat in the arm chair closest to the fire like he usually did; the smaller boy was sipping some hot cocoa, wrapped up in a small blanket. 

“You're up early,” Blaise said as he walked further into the room. Harry jumped, his cup falling to the floor spilling the hot chocolate onto the rug. Harry frowned and looked up at Blaise. 

“Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you,” Blaise said, chuckling and pulled out his wand to vanish the broken mug and the hot chocolate mess. “Want me to go get you another?” Blaise offered.

Harry shook his head sinking further down into his chair “No, I wasn't really drinking it anyway,” he admitted, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself. “Why are you up so early?” Harry asked watching as Blaise pulled the second chair over closer to the fire and sitting down. 

Blaise shrugged at Harry's question. “I could ask you the same thing; I would have thought after last night you would have slept half the day away.”

“That's why I'm awake. After my lesson with Snape...I couldn't stop thinking.” Harry turned his attention back towards the fire watching the flames, very much aware of the fact that Blaise was now watching him. 

“Harry…” Blaise started but Harry shook his head. 

“I don't really want to talk about any of it. Because it doesn't matter.” Harry looked back at Blaise fixing him with such a fierce stare that Blaise, though still reluctant, nodded and let the subject drop for now. 

“I am still here if you need to talk,” Blaise said, feeling like he had to tell Harry this, though Draco had said the same thing to Harry. Blaise got the feeling that the green eyed boy would have to hear it more than once if he was actually going to believe that there was someone to talk to. 

“I know, Draco told me I could talk to you two. I just....I can't.” Harry sighed; he felt bad that he couldn't talk to either of them when they were trying so hard, but what they wanted him to talk about wasn't easy.

“Can I ask why?” Blaise asked, watching Harry while the other boy turned his attention back towards the fire once again. Blaise was ready to assume that Harry was just going to ignore him now, when the smaller boy spoke. 

“Part of it is because...I don't know how to talk about it,” Harry admitted. He felt unsure of how to explain things so that Blaise would understand. This was something that Harry had kept to himself for so long, and he couldn't bring himself to start talking about it to just anyone. “It's not something that comes up in conversation, and being told, or asked to talk about it isn't easy.” 

Blaise nodded in understanding when Harry paused, thinking about what he was going to say next. He and Draco couldn’t pressure Harry into talking before he was ready, that wouldn’t do anything to develop the trust between them. So he waited, listening, for Harry to say what he needed to.   
“I also think it is because I don't really know either of you,” Harry told him, looking back at Blaise for a moment. “We've been living in the same rooms for two months, and even with the bond, we are still practically strangers.”

Blaise smiled at him; if it was a simple matter of them not knowing each other, then that was a problem easily fixed. “You know a bit about us,” Blaise pointed out. 

“I know more about you now than I did two months ago, but...” Harry said, his voice trailing off as he chewed on his lower lip. 

“But not enough to just open up and start talking about your problems,” Blaise finished for him and Harry nodded. “Well, that's something that can be fixed at least,” Blaise pointed out. “What do you want to know about me?” Blaise asked and Harry looked at Blaise in confusion. 

“Huh?” he asked.

“You just said we are still practically strangers, so the best way to get to know someone is to talk to them right? Ask them questions and get to know them,” Blaise said and he almost laughed at the look Harry was still giving him. “It doesn't have to be complicated questions, maybe something like, ‘what's your favourite colour’, or ‘what do you like to eat?’”

“I can't think of any questions I really want to ask you though...” Harry told him, feeling a little awkward as he turned his gaze back towards the fire. 

Blaise shrugged a shoulder. “Then can I ask you some questions?” he asked, and Harry's head snapped back so they were looking at each other again. “You don't have to answer anything you don't want to," Blaise reassured him. "And I won't ask you about the abuse.”

“I'm not abused!” Harry snapped cutting Blaise off quickly. Harry's cheeks turned slightly pink and he looked away from Blaise, unable to keep staring into those violet eyes, eyes that looked so sad when Harry had denied the abuse. 

“Denying what it is, isn't going to help any,” Blaise said softly, wanting to try and help Harry accept what had happened to him. However, Harry ignored him, and Blaise let out a loud sigh.

“I wonder if I should be happy it's not me that's upsetting him this time.” Draco's voice came from behind Blaise, startling the two boys in the common room. Blaise looked around to see the blond leaning against the wall watching the two of them. 

“I didn't upset him on purpose,” Blaise pointed out glancing back at Harry, who was trying his hardest to ignore both Blaise and Draco right now. 

“Then why don't you make it up to us and go get some breakfast; and bring it back here so we can eat something, so we can get our day started,” Draco suggested.

“What did I do that I have to make up with you as well?” Blaise asked a little indignantly, but he stood up from his chair and stretched anyway. 

“You upset Harry, and it woke me up," Draco told him; he had felt Harry's emotions through their bond and there was no way he could have slept through it. "I was looking forward to actually sleeping in this morning,” Draco huffed and Blaise chuckled shaking his head; there was no way that Draco would have slept in, even if Harry hadn't been upset. 

“Alright, alright, I know when I'm not wanted around here. I'll go get some food.” Blaise looked at Harry. “Anything special you want?” he asked and Harry shook his head. 

“No, I'm not really hungry this morning,” Harry answered, though he still didn't look at the tan boy. Blaise nodded and left the room; he would still bring something back for Harry to eat, even if it was just some fruit salad. 

Once Blaise was out of the room, Draco pushed off the wall and made his way over towards Harry. He took a seat in the chair that Blaise had vacated. “Sorry about him,” Draco said and Harry blinked, slowly turning his attention towards the blond. 

“What?” he asked, feeling pretty confused. He didn't think that Draco had anything to be sorry for at the moment, not after he had actually been really nice the evening before.

“Blaise; he can be a bit pushy at times. He was probably just trying to help, and he doesn't always know when to back off. He's a bit....over protective at times.” Draco had a soft smile on his lips when he said this, and Harry found himself now staring at the blond boy sitting across from him. “What did he say anyway?” Draco asked curiously.

“He wanted to talk about...about my relatives,” Harry admitted. “I don't want to talk about them, I don't even want to think about them.”

Draco nodded his understanding. “I can talk to him, tell him to back off from that topic for a while,” Draco offered. “But, try not to get upset with him,” Draco requested. “It's his way of showing he cares I suppose.”

“He only cares about me because of the bond,” Harry said, sounding a little bitter, and Draco raised a blond eyebrow. 

“Do you really believe that?" the blond asked. "True, this bond did create something between the three of us, but I don't think they are false feelings, Harry.” Draco had originally thought exactly that, because there was no possible way for him to ever have any feelings other then hatred for Harry Potter, but now he was wondering if it was something else. 

“You hated me, Draco, you can't deny that," Harry pointed out, feeling unsure about the sincerity of all of their feelings towards each other. "We hated each other, and now...now we don't. Something like that can't disappear overnight. If I think about it, I can probably still muster up some of the hatred I had for you before the bond,” Harry said, shifting around in his seat, wrapping his blanket tighter around himself. 

“It is still there,” Draco agreed. “But I think it's been, not covered up...but dampened maybe. I just know that these feelings, they're not new for me,” Draco admitted with a small blush painting his pale cheeks. 

Harry studied Draco for a moment before asking. “What do you mean?” 

“I tried to be your friend once,” Draco reminded him. Harry had a small smile as he remembered the first day he had spent in the wizarding world. Then meeting Draco in the robe shop; the blond had been the first person from this world his own age to talk to him. 

“I didn't know you were trying to be my friend back then,” Harry pointed out. “You sounded like a spoiled prat to me.”

“That's because I was," Draco said with an unapologetic shrug; there was no use in denying the way things had been. "I had never made my own friends; everyone I knew my own age were children of my father's friends. The point is, these feelings the bond has 'created', I think have always been there, they're just a little amplified now.” Draco still had a light blush colouring his cheeks as he finished speaking, and Harry couldn't help but smile at the fact that Draco was embarrassed at admitting that he had tried and failed to befriend Harry Potter. “I think that would also explain why you don't like Blaise or I calling you 'Potter',” Draco said almost as an afterthought. 

“How does that explain that?” Harry asked, genuinely confused. “Plenty of people call me 'Potter'. It doesn't make sense that it only upsets me when you and Blaise do it.” 

“Okay," Draco said, trying to think about how to explain it, "I think it's not so much us calling you Potter, but more perhaps the fact that we use to call you that because we didn't like you?" he suggested. "You haven't called me Malfoy since the bond formed. You're treating Blaise and I as if we were your friends.”

“I'm still not getting it...” Harry huffed running a hand through his hair. 

“Would you ever call Granger by her last name?” Draco asked and Harry shook his head. 

“No, it would be weird to call her that,” Harry said without hesitation. A moment later though, he blinked, catching on to what Draco was saying. “Just like it's weird to call you Malfoy...”

“And the Weasel started calling you Potter when he ended your friendship,” Draco pointed out. 

“It was still a little different with you and Blaise though," Harry said, thinking it over. "The way you said my name, it made me feel like I had done something wrong, that it was my fault that you two hated me.” Harry gave a small sigh, looking around when the door opened stopping the conversation between himself and Draco.

Blaise came into the room carrying a large bowl of fruit salad with him. “I know you said you weren't hungry, but I brought you something to eat anyway,” Blaise said as he put the fruit down on the table. “The house elves said they would cook up some pancakes and pop them in, in a few minutes.” Blaise grinned as Draco stood up from his seat, walking over to pick at the fruit that Blaise had brought back with him. He looked back at Harry, who remained in his chair by the fire. 

“We should go through your wardrobe today, and pick out something for you to wear to dinner with my mother,” Draco said a little distractedly, as he picked another piece of fruit from the bowl. “New year's eve is tomorrow night after all.” Draco smirked as Harry blinked slowly, and popped the piece of melon into his mouth.

“Why do you have to go through my wardrobe?” Harry questioned curiously.

Draco swallowed before speaking. “Because we are going to a fancy restaurant and I want to see if you have anything decent to wear, and if not, then we will either have to go shopping, or you will borrow some of my clothes,” he pointed out, picking up some more fruit. “On second thought, I'll just pick something from my clothes for you to wear. It will save time.” Draco grinned, ignoring Harry frown as a house elf popping in with a giant plate of pancakes for the three boys.

They smelt so good, and the assortment of syrups that the elf brought as well looked delicious. Harry's stomach growled and Blaise looked at him with a raised eyebrow. The tan boy didn't tell him to eat, but Harry knew that he couldn't deny that he was hungry any more.

Standing from his warm chair, Harry kept the blanket wrapped around himself as his bare feet touched the cold stone floor. Making his way over to the sofa, which had the food was set up on the table in front of it, he sat down. Blaise and Draco sat down on either side of him and Harry couldn't help but smile a little as he helped himself to a pancake and dumped some fruit onto it. He couldn't help but think that this was something he would love to get used to. 

***B***

Sirius was restless and had spent the better part of the night wandering the castle as Padfoot, thinking of what he would have to do if Dumbledore couldn't actually do anything to keep him out of Azkaban. But Sirius was still angry, and thinking of plans had never been his thing. Remus was the best at planning. And that was another thing to take into account; if it turned out that he would have to take Harry and make a run for it, Sirius knew that he would not be able to leave his only friend behind. 

Letting out a loud sigh, Sirius lifted himself from the floor where he had only managed to get a couple hours sleep. There was only one person he could ask for help and he just hoped that the man didn't demand his soul in return.

Sirius, still in his animagus form, made his way down to Snape's office. He felt tired from the lack of sleep and drained from the difficult evening they had had; and so he lowered himself to the floor, curling up outside the door and waited for the potions master. He did want to speak to Snape and see if the other man would be able to help, but waking him up with the sun probably wasn't the best course of action. So remained in front of the door, until it opened nearly an hour later when Snape was leaving to go get some breakfast. 

“Is this one of your new hobbies? Lurking outside of doors?” Snape asked; it seemed he couldn't help but sneer at the scruffy looking dog lying on the floor by his feet. Sirius looked up at Snape and just stared at the potions master, wondering if he would have to change from his canine form right here in the hallway. 

“Why don't you go find the Potter child? I'm sure you have a lot to talk about after last night," Snape said impatiently, moved around the dog, ignoring the growl and walked down the corridor, until the sound of Sirius' voice stopped him. 

“I need your help, Snape,” Sirius said loudly, his voice echoing in the empty hall. Snape turned slowly back towards Sirius, a black eyebrow raised in question. 

“I'm not sure I heard you correctly.” Snape showed no emotion on his face, and didn't move even as Sirius took a couple steps forward. 

“I said I need your help,” Sirius repeated. “I'm no idiot,”

Snape couldn't hold back the comment that slipped out. “That validity of that statement is debatable,” the potion master sneered and Sirius sighed. However, his night of contemplation had made him determined and so he continued on as if Snape hadn't just interrupted him. It would do no good to start arguing right now.

“Dumbledore, I'm sure, is going to do what he can to get me set free. But there is still a high chance that he can't do anything," Sirius pointed out, stopping when he was only a few feet from where Snape was standing, still watching him with apprehension. "If that happens, I need to take Harry and get away from here. I need your help with that.” Sirius looked into black eyes, silently begging, pleading with the man in front of him. 

“What makes you think that I would be able to, or that I would even want to help?” Snape asked. He did want to help Harry, but despite what he knew about the boy now, it would not change the fact that he was a bitter man, nor the way that James and Sirius had tormented him in their school years. 

“Because Lily saw past the greasy git that you can be sometimes. And even you wouldn't let her child stay in a place where he was actually being hurt,” Sirius pointed out, narrowed his eyes at Snape, who glared right back. 

“You have no right to use Lily against me,” Snape hissed dangerously. “I've done my job and brought the boy's abuse to the attention of the Headmaster.” Though Snape would never admit it out loud, Sirius was right; Snape would not allow Harry to return to his Aunt and Uncle, not if there was really something he could do to help. But it seemed that that would mean working with Sirius Black of all people. 

Sirius took a deep breath running a hand through his hair. He knew that talking to Snape might be difficult; he was now thinking that perhaps he should have contracted Remus and had him come talk to the potions master instead. “I just need a safe way to get Harry out of the country, should the need arise," Sirius told him, thinking that getting to the point was probably best for both of them. "I know you hate me, I don't much care for you either, but you are the only person I can trust to help.”

Snape stared in disbelief at what he was hearing. Sirius trusted him, out of everyone else in the Order. Snape couldn't think of anything he had done to earn this man's trust, and he wasn't quite sure he really wanted it. “I will think about it,” Snape said plainly, before he turned away again and made his way up to towards the Great Hall. 

Knowing that that was the best answer he was going to get from Snape for right now, Sirius transformed back into a dog and went off to find some place to get some more sleep. He would go see Harry later and see how his godson was doing. 

**B**

 

True to his word, Draco did in fact pick out some clothes from his own wardrobe for Harry. The black haired boy could only frown as he picked up the green silk shirt that he had been given; he couldn't help but wonder why people loved dressing him in green. He remembered Mrs. Weasley saying something about it bringing out his eyes, but Harry found that to be a little amusing because it was never his eyes that people looked at first. 

Sighing heavily Harry put the shirt back on the bed next to the black pants. Neither of the articles of clothing were overly fancy, but they were still nicer than anything that Harry owned. Not that either had much of an interest in or an eye for clothing or fashion, but the feel of the clothing alone made him suspect that he would scoff at the value of them if he was to ask. 

Draco was ignoring Harry for the moment, busying himself with looking through more clothes, laying out possibilities on the bed. “What are those for?” Harry asked, hoping that he wasn't going to be made to try on numerous outfits before Draco could settle on one.

“He's picking out my clothes now,” Blaise informed him, chuckling softly at the look on Harry's face when the green eyed boy turned to stare at him. 

"Is this normal?" Harry finally asked, still looking at Blaise, who came to stand next to him. Though Blaise's attention was on Draco, who seemed happy to ignore the both of them and instead focus on the clothing choices in front of him. 

"It's something that Draco loves to do," Blaise explained "He also has a great eye for fashion, so I just let him pick out stuff for me now and then. Though, in this case, Draco is the only one that knows where we are going for dinner, and if I were to pick out my own clothes, I would either be over or under dressed," Blaise pointed out.

"He hasn't even told you where we're going?" Harry asked, turning his attention to Draco again. He had assumed that it was only him who was being kept in the dark. "Any reason for that?" Harry queried, directing the question towards the blond.

Draco, however, was silent as he continued laying out a few more shirts and a couple pairs of pants. Standing back he looked at what he had laid out on the bed before discarding two of the shirts, and one of the pairs of pants. 

“I don't think he even knows we're here,” Harry said to Blaise in disbelief, as Draco seemed to be content in ignoring the two of them.

“Probably not, but I know how to get his attention.” Blaise had an evil smirk, and Harry watched in amusement as the tan boy walked up behind Draco; Blaise didn't touch the blond boy right away and Harry wondered what Blaise had in mind to get Draco's attention. He didn't have to wonder long, as Blaise leaned down kissing the side of Draco's neck. 

Draco jumped slightly in surprise before letting his eyes close, a seemingly involuntary soft moan escaping his lips as Blaise continued kissing the pale neck. “Blaise...” Draco said after a moment, but Blaise didn't seem to be finished with him yet. 

Harry's mouth fell open as he watched the two of them, he had seen them together a few times, and had even seen them share a few kisses. But this was something different all together. Harry felt like he should probably leave the room and let the two boys have some time alone. He was about to start making his way towards the door when Blaise spoke. 

“Harry asked you a question,” Blaise said, as he pulled his mouth away from Draco's neck smirking again when he saw that he had left a mark on the pale skin.

“What?” Draco asked, blinking and turning to look at Blaise. It took a moment for the words to sink in, but then he looked around the other boy to see Harry. Draco had to smirk at how red Harry's face was at the moment. “What was your question?” Draco asked, as if nothing had just happened. 

“I...” Harry started but found his mouth had gone a bit dry, his eyes kept going to the mark on Draco's neck.

“He wanted to know where we were going for dinner.” Blaise chuckled as Harry's eyes snapped back up. 

“It's a surprise,” Draco stated. He seemed highly amused by the fact that Harry couldn't keep from staring at his neck. 

Blaise moved forward again and slid his arm around Draco's waist. “Do you have any other surprises in mind?” he asked and Draco smacked his arm, pulling away from the tan boy. “Nothing for you.” Draco smirked. “I picked out a few outfits for you to choose from,” Draco said, pointing to the clothes on the bed, then looked back at Harry. “Now that the clothes are taken care of, there is one more thing that needs to be addressed.” 

Harry took half a step back from Draco as the blond started towards him. He didn't know what the other boy had in mind, but he didn't know if he liked the way that Draco was looking at his hair. “Sit down,” Draco instructed firmly, as he motioned towards a chair, and when Harry still hesitated the blond rolled his eyes, pulling Harry over to the chair and making him sit in it. 

“What are you going to do?” Harry asked nervously. 

“I'm going to see what I can do with this nest you call hair,” Draco said as he picked up a brush to start the impossible task of making Harry's hair presentable. 

Blaise chuckled at the angry pout on Harry's face. The black haired boy turned his head to glare at Blaise, only to have his head turned back by Draco. 

“Hold still,” Draco ordered and started pulling the brush through the tangles of Harry's short hair. “Do you ever brush your hair?”

“Of course I do!” Harry huffed indignantly. “My hair is impossible, and no one has ever been able to do anything with it.” 

“Maybe if you got a proper haircut?” Blaise put in helpfully, but Harry shook his head. 

“No, I mean nothing works on my hair, it never has. Brushing it makes it look worse, and cutting it doesn't help because it just grows back.” Harry leaned back in the chair and allowed Draco to continue brushing his hair. He was confident that the blond would give up soon enough and decide that Harry's hair wasn't worth the amount of frustration it would bring. 

***B***

Sirius, once again in his animagus form, slowly made his way to Harry's rooms, Remus walking beside him. Dumbledore had called the werewolf to come and pick Sirius up and bring him home. Sirius was still reluctant to leave though. However, even with how mad he was at Dumbledore, the old man had made a very valid point; the students would be returning the day after tomorrow, so it was probably a good idea for him to say his goodbyes to Harry now and go home. 

Though, Sirius wondered if Dumbledore was truly worried that Sirius would make good on this threat to take off with Harry. The idea was still highly tempting to Sirius, but he had to forcibly remind himself of the bond between Harry and the two Slytherins. If taking Harry away from them would cause any pain for his Godson, then Sirius would have to take them too, and that was something that he didn't think he could get away with. 

Sirius looked up when they reached the entrance to Harry's rooms and, given that Sirius would struggle to do so without transforming, Remus knocked on the door. It was only a moment later that Harry swung the door open. 

“Harry get back here! I'm not finished yet!” Draco yelled from behind the black haired boy, before he too appeared in the entrance. “Oh wonderful, company.” Draco looked from Remus to Sirius. “If you're here to upset Harry again, you can turn around and leave,” he said as he glared at the black dog. Sirius, however, just stared back at him for a moment before pushing past Harry and Draco into the rooms, where he transformed. 

“I came to spend a little more time with Harry before I have to leave,” Sirius informed them. 

“You're leaving already?” Harry asked, sounding upset as he turned to face his Godfather. “But vacation isn't over yet,” he protested.

“Cub, you're not going to be here tomorrow, and the day after that the students return,” Remus pointed out gently. Both grown men watched as Harry started chewing on his lower lip. 

“If I had known you were leaving today, then I would have spent more time with you,” Harry insisted. He looked up at Sirius who sighed and moved forward to wrap his arms around the small boy. 

Draco looked at Remus who was still standing in the entrance. “You may as well come in too,” he said, though he didn't sound at all pleased about this. He waited for Remus to enter the room before closing the door. “Harry, I'm going to put your outfit in your room for you,” Draco informed the boy still wrapped in Sirius' arms, then left the room giving them some time alone. 

“Harry, we got to spend the whole week together. It's probably the best Christmas I've had in a very long time,” Sirius said. He looked down at Harry, hugging the boy tighter when Harry hugged him back. 

“It still feels like I didn't get to spend enough time with you,” Harry admitted softly. 

“I know, but hey, we have the Easter holiday coming up next. Then we will have the whole summer to spend with each other,” Sirius pointed out.

“Sirius.” Remus interrupted, but Harry was now staring up at his Godfather with wide eyes, then back at Remus. 

“What do you mean? The whole summer?” Harry questioned, not daring to let that little bubble of hope inside him grow. “I have to go back to the Dursley's.” 

Sirius growled at the name of the people Harry was forced to stay with. “Not of I can help it,” Sirius said firmly, ignoring the warning look from Remus. 

“But what about Voldemort?” Harry asked with a frown. “Won't he be able to find me easier if I don't go back there?” 

“Harry, I think it might be best if we talk about this another time,” Remus said, sighing. “Nothing has been settled yet but we are working on it, and I for one don't want to get your hopes up if it turns out you do have to return to your relatives house.” 

Harry sighed and nodded his understanding; he had known it was too good to be true. He wanted to believe that Sirius really would come through this time but he was used to disappointments when it came to leaving the Dursley's. He had come so close a few times, but he always found himself back at that house. Though thankfully he was never locked in the cupboard again. Just in his room.

“I think we should get going now,” Remus said, gently pulling Harry from Sirius' arms, hugging him as well. 

“You're leaving already?” Harry sounded surprised. 

“We just stopped by to say goodbye," Remus explained. "Dumbledore thinks it would be best if we left right away.” Remus ran his hand through Harry's hair, ruining any work that Draco had already put into it. “Please write to us, cub, keep us updated?” Remus requested and Harry nodded, he still felt a little guilty for not writing to them before. 

“I promise I'll try to write more often,” Harry said hugging Remus back, then looked back at Sirius once more. 

“Harry, I will do anything I can to make sure you don't have to go back to those people again,” Sirius said, and Harry wondered if Sirius had told anyone about the scars on Harry's back. Not that Sirius had seen them, but he knew about them now thanks to Blaise and Draco. 

Harry smiled at his Godfather. “Just, don't get into any trouble? I really don't mind going back there, if it means you don't get caught,” Harry said, as he hugged his Godfather again tightly. 

After both men had left, Harry made his way to his own room stopping when he saw both Blaise and Draco in their room, they were sitting on one of the beds, Blaise sitting behind Draco, with his arms wrapped around Draco. They looked so comfortable together. Letting out a small sigh, Harry turned and went into his own room; he saw the outfit that Draco had draped over the chair by his desk. 

Harry sat on his bed letting out a loud sigh before falling back onto it, he stared up at the ceiling. It was only early afternoon, but Harry felt so tired and drained. He blamed it on the fact that he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. 

 

“Everything okay Harry?” Draco's voice came from the doorway, but Harry didn't have the energy to even look at the blond.

“Yeah, I'm just really tired. I think I'm going to get some sleep.” Harry said shifting around on the bed until his head was actually laying on the pillow. Draco continued to watch him, until the smaller boy was settled. It looked as if Harry was already falling asleep, so Draco backed out of the room closing the door behind him. 

**B**

The following day was busier then Harry thought it should be. He felt as if he didn't even have time to stop and think really. Though Harry wondered if he felt so rushed because Blaise and Draco had let him sleep in that morning, even though the black haired boy had fallen asleep in the late afternoon of the previous day. Harry wasn't used to sleeping so much, and he probably would have continued sleeping if Draco hadn't woken him up when it was nearing eleven in the morning. 

It was now almost four in the afternoon and Draco had spent an extraordinary amount of time getting Harry ready, and actually managed to get Harry's hair to more or less behave with the help of a potion or two. It was time for them to leave and Draco held out the portkey for Blaise and Harry to grab. A moment later Harry felt the familiar unpleasant feeling of being pulled away by the portkey. 

The three boys landed in an ally not to from the restaurant where they would be meeting Draco's mother; Harry stumbled, nearly falling over, but Draco moved quickly and grabbed hold of his arm, managing to keep the smaller boy on his feet. 

"Not all that good with magical travel, are you?" Blaise said, chuckling at the light blush that coloured Harry's cheeks. 

"I swear there is some trick to staying on your feet that people just won't tell me about," Harry huffed, as he made sure he still had his invisibility cloak. Draco had convinced him not to use it right away and to give his mother a chance. Though Harry was reluctant, he did at least know that with his cloak he would be able to get away should anything happen.

"No, there's no secret to it. And if there was, why would we keep it from you?" Draco asked raising a blond eyebrow at Harry.

"Because people find it amusing when I fall on my face," Harry pointed out in all seriousness. Draco chuckled shaking his head. 

"If that were true, then why did I just stop you from falling over?" Draco smirked at Harry, who seemed to just realise that Draco still had hold of his arm. Blushing Harry pulled his arm away, but Draco seemed to find that even more amusing,

"Because you spent an hour helping me get ready for dinner tonight, and if I fell in the mud all your hard work making my hair behave would have been for nothing," Harry said, looking pleased with himself for having thought of a good argument. He grinned at the look of shocked disbelief that Draco was now giving him, but Blaise laughed.

“He has a point there," Blaise told him. "He is also wearing your clothes; even if you got them cleaned, just the thought that they had been in the mud would be enough to ensure you would never wear them again,” he teased Draco, who glared at him. 

“I'm not that bad. And I didn't just hold him up because he's wearing my clothes,” Draco defended and Blaise leaned in giving him a quick kiss. 

“I'm sorry, love, but you are,” Blaise whispered, but Harry heard it, since he was still standing close to Draco, even after having pulled his arm away from the blond. He was more than a little jealous at the relationship between Blaise and Draco, and wished he could have something like that. But like he had been doing all day, Harry shoved those thoughts aside. Things were better between the three of them, and Harry was going to try really hard to keep it that way.

Harry cleared his throat looking at the two in front of him, who were totally fixated on each other. “Since you are still the only one who knows where we are going, lead the way,” Harry said, looking at Draco. The blond nodded, smiling as he lead them out onto the main street his fingers lacing with Blaise's briefly as they walked. 

“Where are we exactly?” Harry asked frowning when he realised that the people walking past them were speaking a language that he couldn't understand. 

“Florence, Italy,” Blaise answered before Draco had a chance to. “And if we're in Florence, then there is only one place that Draco's mother would be taking us to dinner.” Blaise now looked rather excited about this. Harry frowned more and Blaise chuckled, letting go of Draco's hand to put an arm around Harry's shoulders. “Don't worry, you'll like the place we're going to,” he promised. 

Harry sighed; it was too late to turn back now, so he contented himself with looking at his surroundings until they reached the restaurant. Even if he hadn't been told he was in Italy, and without the foreign language being spoken around him, Harry thought he would have been able to tell that they weren't in Britain anymore. The whole city looked remarkably different from anywhere he had been before, with its cobbled and paved streets, and pale buildings; they seemed to primarily be built from light coloured stone, and many had been painted, using tones from off-white to beige, a few even yellow in colour, and the roofs he could see were a distinctive rusty orange. 

They hadn't been walking long before Harry was lead into a building; he only got a brief look at the outside, before Blaise pulled him through the front doors. Draco was already talking to the hostess. Harry fidgeted nervously as he looked around the inside. Above his head there was what looked like a floating chandelier, which looked as if it were lit with tiny balls of light that flickered and moved about. He only realised he was staring when he felt his arm gently being pulled by Blaise, and he turned his attention back to the two Slytherins and the rest of the restaurant. 

“They're taking us to our table; Draco's mother got us a table upstairs, fewer people around,” Blaise explained. Harry subconsciously reached into his pocket, making sure his invisibility cloak was still there, before following Draco up the stairs. Blaise followed Harry, have noticed the movement to check his cloak. “You're not going to need that, Harry, I promise,” Blaise reassured, as he and Draco had been all morning. 

“I still don't know how you two talked me into not wearing it,” Harry huffed. 

Draco waited for the two of them at the top of the stairs. “Because you know that you're only being paranoid. And you also know that we wouldn't have brought you here if there was any danger,” Draco said when Harry was standing next to him, Blaise coming to stand on the other side of Harry. “Please, just trust us...trust me on this.” 

“I am trusting you, that's why I'm here,” Harry said softly. “I still wonder if it's a good idea to just surprise your mother with me being here though. Maybe we should have told her I was the extra person you were bringing with you?” 

“The chance of my father finding a letter like that was too great. My mother will be shocked, but she won't cause a scene,” Draco promised. Harry took a deep breath trying to calm his nerves down but he still couldn't help but be worried about meeting Narcissa. 

The three boys were lead over to the table, where the tall blonde woman sat. Seeing them approaching her table, she stood up to greet her son and Blaise, but stopped when she caught sight of Harry. The only outward sign she showed of being surprised, was her eyes widening slightly before she continued with greeting her son, pulling him into a gentle hug. 

“Draco, I am pleased that you were able to make it,” she said, then looked at Blaise greeting him politely, before her attention was once again on Harry. “And Mr. Potter, I must say that when my son told me he was bringing someone else along for our New Year's dinner, I was not expecting you.” The way that Narcissa spoke gave nothing away; she didn't seem upset that Harry was there, but she didn't seem overly happy about it either. 

“Mother, I know you two haven't been formally introduced,” Draco said stepping between Narcissa and Harry, bringing the attention back to himself. “Mother, this is Harry. And Harry, this is my mother, Narcissa Malfoy.” Draco looked between the two, and Harry swallowed, his hand twitching wanting to grab either his wand, or his invisibility cloak. Instead he summoned his Gryffindor courage and held out his hand to Narcissa.

“It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy,” Harry said politely, hoping that his nervousness wasn't all that obvious. Draco smiled at Harry before looking towards his mother expectantly. 

Narcissa took Harry's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before letting go. “Why don't we sit; we can order dinner and discuss why you are here,” she suggested. Draco moved behind his mother's chair and pulled it out for her, waiting until she took her seat before sitting down in the chair between his mother and Blaise, leaving Harry to sit directly across from him between Blaise and Narcissa.

No one spoke as the waiter brought the menu's over, and then Harry waited until everyone else had picked up their own, before opening his. He felt more nervous now then he had before, and he was starting to regret coming to dinner. He wondered if it would be this awkward if Narcissa wasn't there. Reminding himself that he could easily slip away at any time, Harry looked down at his menu. His eyes widened as he scanned over the items listed there in a language that he didn't even know. 

Biting his lower lip Harry frowned at the menu, wondering if there was something on there that he might recognise. He glanced up at Blaise and Draco, who were both looking at their own menus. Neither of them seemed to be having any trouble reading what was written there. Letting out a small huff Harry looked at his menu again feeling frustrated, and more than a little silly sitting here staring at the words before him, wishing they would make sense to him. 

“Harry?” Blaise asked, and Harry looked up frowning more when he noticed that he was the only one still looking at his menu. “Are you okay?” 

“No,” Harry admitted softly. “I think, maybe it was a bad idea for me to come with you tonight.” Harry lowered his head, he was unable to put into words how he felt, sitting at the table in a fancy restaurant wearing clothes he had had to borrow from someone else just to look like he belonged in a place like this. 

“Why do you think it was a bad idea?” The calm voice broke the silence and Harry blinked looking up at Narcissa, a little surprised to find her addressing a question to him so directly. “I admit that I was shocked to see whom it was my son brought with him tonight. However, you are obviously a dear friend to my Draco, otherwise he would not have extended the invitation to you to begin with.” Narcissa gave Harry a small smile; it was the first one he had seen from her so far. 

“It's just...” Harry bit his lower lip again lowering his head to look at his hands that were fidgeting with the hem of the robes Draco lent him. “I don't think I should have come,” Harry said and Narcissa nodded patiently. 

“Yes, and I am asking why,” she said and Harry seemed to lower in his seat slightly.

He remained silent for a long while before he finally answered. “Because I don't belong here.” 

“I see,” Narcissa answered and studied Harry. “I am curious how you came to this conclusion.” Harry shrugged in reply. “A verbal response if you please.” Narcissa said, though she didn't sound annoyed at him when she spoke.

“I don't know, it's just how I feel.” Harry sighed after another long pause. “I had to borrow clothes from Draco just to be let into this place, I can't understand what the people around me are saying, and I can't even read the menu,” Harry explained, hoping that would be enough of an answer for Narcissa. 

“Well, one of those problems is easily fixed,” Narcissa said, opening up her own menu again. “What is your favourite food? From there we can find something on the menu you will like,” she said easily and Harry stared at her.

“I um....well, I like treacle tart.” Harry admitted and Narcissa smiled at him again. 

“That is a desert,” she said and looked at her menu. 

“I like trying new kinds of foods," Harry said, feeling quite out of his depth. "I don't really know what I like,” he added apologetically, watching as Narcissa nodded. 

“Then why not try the duck,” Narcissa suggested closing her menu once again laying down in front of her. 

Draco smiled noticing as Harry had stopped fidgeting and seemed slightly more relaxed then he had since they arrived here. “I like the duck here,” Draco said catching Harry's attention. 

“I think it tastes like chicken. Why is it that all birds taste like chicken?” Blaise asked in all seriousness, Draco stared at Blaise as if he had just said the most ridiculous thing and Harry couldn't stop himself from laughing. “Well it's true!” Blaise grinned as Harry laughed and seemed to relax a bit more. 

"That's preposterous; Duck is a far richer and darker meat than chicken," Draco said in a tone which Harry thought was rather amusingly pompous. "And if you truly don't like it then we will order you something else, Harry," he added, giving Harry a warm smile, ignoring the way Blaise was chuckling quietly into his water glass.

Harry looked a bit baffled by the idea of ordering something else as well later, thinking it rather wasteful, but he was sure the duck would be fine anyway. “I think I'll try that then,” he said, smiling at Draco and then Narcissa, who smiled back at him with a small nod before signalling the waiter that they were ready to order. Harry watched as Blaise and Draco placed their own order, and then Narcissa ordered food for herself and Harry. This was something which Harry was very grateful for, as he felt he had already embarrassed himself enough tonight.

When the waiter left to give the order to the kitchen, Narcissa turned her attention to Harry once again. “Now then, Mr. Potter," Narcissa said firmly. "I am quite curious about how you and my son have become friends.” Harry blinked at her, surprised that the implied request for an explanation was directed at him, rather than Draco himself. Not quite sure where to start, he turned, looking to Draco. 

Draco frowned slightly; he had hoped to put off this topic of conversation for a little while longer. “Mother, it is kind of a long story.” 

“All the more reason to begin telling it now,” Narcissa insisted; she hadn't missed any of the glances that Harry and Draco had been shooting each other, or the fact that Blaise had his hand under the table most likely resting on Draco's knee giving the blond boy silent support. 

“I think it might be best if I first tell you that I will not be returning home for the summer.” Draco looked at his mother, watching as she let the full weight of those words sink in. 

“You're sure about this Draco?” Narcissa asked, though she already knew that Draco would have thought about something like this long and hard before coming to his decision. 

“I am sure. I have been thinking about it since last summer but something happened recently that forced me to make up my mind.” Draco looked at Harry when he said this, Narcissa also looked at the small fidgeting boy. 

“I see, and what does Mr. Potter have to do with your decision?” Narcissa asked. None of the three boys seemed to eager to answer that question, but finally it was Blaise who sighed. 

“It's because Draco and I are now bonded to Harry.” The Italian boy now had Narcissa's full attention. “We're not quite sure how it happened, but Harry's magic was out of control and needed an anchor, so it forced a signature bond between the two of us, while also creating one between him and Draco,” Blaise explained. 

“Two signature bonds?” Narcissa's eyes went wide and she looked at Harry who shrank down in his seat a little further. 

“I didn't mean to do it, I didn't even know it was happening," Harry defended, feeling the weight of his guilt bearing down upon him for how irrevocably he had changed both of the Slytherins' lives. "I passed out after that, and woke up in the hospital wing a week later...we tried to see if we could break the bond, but then we found out what the bonds actually were and there's no way to break it and-” Harry was cut off when Blaise reached over and put a hand over his mouth. 

“Harry, calm down. She's not angry, you don't have to get worked up over this, and you don't have to apologise either,” Blaise told him firmly. Harry blinked looking up at Blaise. Slowly removing his hand from Harry's mouth, Blaise smiled at him and then looked at Narcissa. “That is a good example of why Harry needs us; if he gets too worked up his magic will start acting up as well, it's kind of frightening to watch.” 

“Mother, I was thinking about not returning home before all of this happened. This just gave me the push I needed.” Draco reached over and took his mother's hand. It was going to be difficult for both of them, but there really was no longer an alternative.

Narcissa nodded giving Draco's hand a light squeeze. “I know, Draco, it is just that if I had known sooner, then I would have insisted you remain at school for Christmas.” Narcissa looked at her son. 

“That's something that couldn't have been helped...Father would have insisted I return home," Draco pointed out. "And if I hadn't then he would have known my thoughts before summer. This way it gives us more time to plan.” Draco gave his mother's hand another squeeze before letting it go when their food arrived. 

They dropped the topic of what was going to happen in the summer, because it was best if Narcissa didn't know too much, seeing as how she had to return home to her husband and the unwanted house guests. 

As the others ate their dinner, Harry mostly just pushed his food around on his plate while Narcissa, Blaise and Draco ate their dinner. He had taken a few bites, and could easily admit that the duck was excellent but he just didn't feel quite so hungry any more. His mind was a racing whirlwind of thoughts that he couldn't stop. 

“Is it not to your liking?” Narcissa asked, concerned that her recommendation had been not suitable.

“Harry does this sometimes,” Blaise said sounding part exasperated, part understanding. “He thinks too hard, and the result of that usually seems to be him not eating.” 

“I'm sorry,” Harry sighed, not wanting to have worried or upset either his bondmates or Narcissa, who had actually been nothing but polite and considerate all evening. “It does taste really good, I'm just not as hungry as I thought I was,” he explained.

“If there is something on your mind that is troubling you, it is usually a good thing to discuss it,” Narcissa said watching Harry closely; it was almost painful for her to look at him, to know that this boy, this child was the same age as her own son. And for some reason only truly known to the Dark Lord, this boy had to die. 

Harry sighed, and put his fork down on the side of his plate. Here, again, was someone telling him that it would be best if he could just talk about things that were bothering him. “It's just... I don't get it,” Harry said as he looked up at her with his bright green eyes. “I thought you would be mad, or try to hex me or something for forcing Draco into a bond with me.” 

Narcissa blinked in surprise at him; out of all the things for this boy to be worried about, that was what was on his mind at the moment. “I don't think there is any reason to be angry about this situation,” Narcissa told him truthfully. “By being bound to you, you are saving my son from the one thing that I never could protect him from.”

Harry frowned, still looking at Narcissa. This woman was nothing like he had expected her to be, then again, he wasn't quite sure what he was expecting. Besides, it wasn't' as though Blaise or Draco had been what he expected either.

“Now then, why don't you try and eat a little," Narcissa suggested. "And tell me about what subjects you are taking in school; I know all about how Blaise and Draco are doing, and as you are now a part of my son's life, I would like to know more about you.” Narcissa smiled at Harry, who smiled back, pushing his worry to the back of his mind for now as he allowed the topic to be changed. 

 

TBC

YAY! Finally FINALLY finished with that! I hope I had a good balance in this chapter, and I think it definitely moved things along in the right direction! This can be considered 3 chapters in one! Since this chapter is 15,900 words! I really hope the wait was worth it.


	16. Chapgter 16

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 16

It felt like little time at all before the winter holidays were over and the students were returning to the castle. Classes would be starting up again soon and this was something that Harry wasn't too thrilled about; he didn't really mind the one on one classes he would be having, not most of them anyway, but he was not looking forward to his first potions lesson with Snape, not after the last time he had been left alone with the man. Harry was truly hoping to avoid the lessons, not wanting to ever find himself alone with the professor again; he had even debated dropping potions completely, but he doubted that Dumbledore would allow him to get away with it. 

Harry glanced up from where he was sitting on the floor in front of the fire when he heard the door to their common room open and a moment later Draco came in. The blond paused just inside the room and looked at Harry, who had already turned his attention back to the paper he had on the floor in front of him. 

“You look like you're thinking too hard,” Draco said as he came over to look over Harry's shoulder to see what the other boy was doing. “That's your class schedule?” he asked when he saw what Harry was looking at. 

“Yeah, I was just seeing what my first class would be tomorrow; I was kind of hoping for a day to sleep in,” Harry said, sighing as he pushed the paper away and leant back on his hands to look up at Draco. “Did you get to see your friends?” Harry asked in an attempt to change the subject.

“I did,” Draco replied, bending down to pick up the schedule that Harry had been looking at. “Why would you want another day to sleep in? Vacation just ended,” Draco said not allowing Harry to change the subject that easily. He frowned as he found the first class Harry would be attending in the morning. “You have Potions first thing tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I know,” Harry said with a small huff trying to look and sound annoyed by the fact that he would have to be up earlier then everyone else just because Snape hadn't been willing or able to rearrange his schedule. However, Draco could tell that Harry was more worried than annoyed.

“I don't want you to go there alone,” Draco admitted, thinking about what had happened the last time Snape had been left alone with Harry. 

“What?” Harry asked looking up at Draco in confusion. 

Draco settled himself down in a chair; he couldn't bring himself to sit on the floor with Harry. “I don't want you to be alone with Professor Snape,” he repeated.

“Oh...” Harry said before turning his attention towards the fire. He sighed, not sure what to think about Draco's statement; he could only assume that Draco didn't trust him not to hurt Snape again, after all having someone else shove memories at you probably didn't feel all that good. “I didn't mean to hurt him you know,” Harry said after a few moments of silence, his eyes still focus on the fire. “I feel horrible about what happened; I shouldn't have pushed everything at him like I did. I was just really angry and he wouldn't leave me alone. I don't like him, but I didn't want to hurt him,” Harry admitted softly.

Draco could only stare at Harry when the smaller boy finished talking. He knew that Harry had been upset about the incident, but the boy hadn't talked about it, so Draco had foolishly thought that everything was actually fine. However, it apparently wasn't; Harry was blaming himself for what had happened. “Harry, you didn't hurt him any more then he deserved for how much he pushed you," Draco insisted. "Professor Snape knows that the control you have on your magic isn't all that stable and yet still went as far as he did; he brought it upon himself. The reason I don't like the idea of you being alone with him again, is because I don't want YOU to be hurt like that again,” Draco said firmly.

Harry still didn't lift his head to look at Draco. “You're just saying that because the bond-”

“No,” Draco snapped, cutting Harry off again. Harry chanced a glance up at the blond. “Not everything I say and do is just because of the bond, Harry. Yes, the bond connects us but it doesn't make me talk to you, it doesn't make me care about you, it doesn't make me protective of you," Draco explained. "Surely I proved that when I was able to block and ignore the bond in the beginning," he pointed out. "The bond doesn't create feelings, it just amplifies the feelings that were already there, and it is my choice on how to react to them.”

Harry blushed brightly unable to look away from Draco as the blond spoke. He still found it hard to believe everything Draco was saying to him, as much as it wanted to. He thought maybe that was just because he and Draco had never gotten along, making it unbelievable that the older boy had any sort of positive feelings for him, but in truth he was always a little sceptical when people seemed to care for him. 

“And let's say for a moment that the bond has changed us, that everything I say and do is being controlled by the bond,” Draco continued, seeing that Harry wasn't convinced, "does it really matter? I opened the bond expecting to lose myself, expecting to become someone that I'm not; but nothing about me has changed, I'm still me. I think I am going to make a rule right now; no more blaming the bond for everything.” 

Harry chewed on his lower lip thinking over what Draco had just said; it felt like the blond was asking a lot of him. He didn't know if he could just stop blaming the bond for everything and just accept the fact that the feelings he had for Blaise and Draco were his own. And even then, how could he just start believing that both Blaise and Draco seemed to care for him? He thought he could manage it with Blaise, probably, but he had only recently stopped fighting with Draco, so for the blond to say that he actually cared for Harry was still a bit too strange for the smaller boy to just believe. 

“And it's like I just said,” Draco went on, when it looked as if Harry was still thinking to hard about it. “Does it really matter anymore? As far as we know the bond can't be broken and things are starting to settle down now; for the moment I don't see any real reason for it to be broken,” Draco admitted, smiling when Harry let out a small sigh and nodded reaching over to take his schedule back from Draco.

“I know, I'm still going to worry about it though," Harry told him. "It's still too weird for me that you and I can sit and have a conversation together without yelling or trying to curse each other. To me that seems like the bond is changing us.”

“That's not really a bad thing though is it?” Draco questioned. “I'm sure we could go back to yelling and throwing spells at each other if you really wanted to,” Draco offered, looking mildly amused and raising a single eyebrow in question.

Harry laughed shaking his head. “No, things are definitely more relaxing like this,” he agreed. It wasn't that he didn't like how things had changed but he was struggling to trust it. He felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop; people caring for him had always seemed to come at a heavy cost in the past.

Draco smiled and reached out running a hand through Harry's hair, brushing the black strands away from Harry's face. The blonde boy didn't seem to really register what he was doing, until Harry leaned into his hand slightly. 

Someone cleared their throat getting both Draco and Harry's attention. “Not interrupting anything am I?” Blaise asked.

“As a matter of fact, you were, so go away.” Draco replied with a smirk, turning to look at Blaise, pulling his hand away from Harry's head and missing the look of disappointment that crossed the smaller boy's face.

“Careful, I might start to get jealous,” the tan boy said walking over to where Harry and Draco were seated; he ruffled Harry's hair before he turned and pulled Draco out of his chair, giving his boyfriend quick kiss before he stole the seat that Draco had just been sitting in. Draco opened his mouth to protest, but yelped as Blaise grabbed his arm and pulled, causing Draco to all but fall into his lap.

“We were just talking.” Harry said giving Blaise a slightly worried look; he wasn't sure he would be able to handle Blaise being jealous as well.

“Harry, I'm teasing. I like the fact that you two are getting along,” Blaise reassured him and watched Harry relax. “So what were you two talking about?” he asked. 

“The bond mostly,” Draco admitted, leaning back so that his back was resting against Blaise's chest. “That and the fact that Harry's first class in the morning is potions.” Draco felt Blaise tense slightly behind him and he smiled, happy to know that Blaise didn't seem to like that either.

“I suppose skipping the class would be pointless, since the one on one lessons were set up for you so you wouldn't be missing any classes,” Blaise said, looking thoughtful. 

“I was thinking of just going with him in the morning. I don't think my godfather would turn me away if I decided to take classes along with Harry,” Draco said, looking from Blaise to Harry, who was watching the two of them with a small frown. “What?” Draco asked when he spotted Harry's expression.

Harry shook his head. “You don't really have to come with me. What happened before, it's not going to happen again,” Harry promised, not wanting Draco to be worrying about his godfather. 

“That's not really the problem, Harry.” Blaise said with a sigh. “Neither of us really like the idea of Professor Snape being alone with you, even if what happened at your Occlumency lesson was an accident; and that is for your sake, not his. To me, it doesn't matter who's fault it was, he's the adult, he's the teacher, and he should have known when to stop pushing.” Blaise couldn't keep the anger from his voice as he thought about how he and Draco had found Harry in Snape's office. Blaise was actually quite surprised that he had not been called down to discuss punishment for threatening a teacher. 

“I don't have much choice in the matter do I?” Harry asked, sighing when both Blaise and Draco shook their heads. “Fine.” Harry agreed, because really protesting that he could take care of himself was pointless, it was perfectly clear that the two Slytherins weren't going to listen to any such arguments. 

 

~*~

Ron was fuming as he sat down in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. He was so angry at nearly everything at the moment. His Christmas holiday hadn't really been as good as he had been expecting it to be; he seemed to be the only one in his family that was actually angry at Harry. 

Ron really didn't care about being attacked by his former best friend, he knew that Harry had some really wild magic, he had much bigger concerns. There were some things that Ron had been noticing about Harry, which had initially got him worried. Like how angry the other boy had been once he had been brought to the Orders HQ; there had been no reason for Harry to be that angry, but he had calmed down after things were explained to him so Ron had let it go. But he had watched Harry a lot closer once they had returned to school. 

Ron realised that, for someone who claimed to care about people, Harry was very much a loner, keeping to himself mostly. And he hardly ever told Ron or Hermione what was bothering him. Everyone knew that something horrible had happened in that graveyard, and yet Harry refused to talk about it, not even to his best friends. 

That was when it had really clicked with Ron; he wasn't sure even now how he came upon the idea that Harry had been the one to kill Cedric. But in Ron's mind it all made sense. 

~*~*Halloween Night*~*~

Ron sat down across from Harry, still watching his best friend as closely, as he had been for the past couple months since school had started again. Harry seemed normal enough, and tonight he was actually smiling and laughing with them. 

“I love travelling, my parents used to try and take me somewhere almost every year. Even if it wasn't a fancy vacation, it was always a lot of fun,” Hermione said, smiling widely as she looked between Harry and Ron. “I know! Why don't the three of us go on a vacation?”

“What?” Harry asked looking at her. 

“Next summer, the three of us should go somewhere. I mean, you've never been on vacation before have you, Harry?” Hermione asked. 

“No, not really,” Harry agreed. “The Dursleys would usually try and leave me with someone if they could,” he admitted softly, though didn't admit that the couple times that they hadn't been able to do that, he was usually left locked in the hotel room while they went out and enjoyed themselves. 

“Even Ron's gone on vacations before,” Hermione said. “He got to go to Egypt a couple years ago.” 

“That was just because my Dad won some money though,” Ron pointed out bitterly. “It sounds like an okay idea, but I doubt my parents can pay for it. They couldn't even afford to get me a broom as a reward for becoming a prefect.” Ron said stabbing a peace of meat on his plate rather hard. 

“Ron...” Harry said, a frown on his face. “I wouldn't want to even plan this vacation if you weren't going to come along. I can pay for you,” he offered, before turning to Hermione. “I can even pay for you too, Hermione.” he added, but shrank back slightly from the look Ron gave him. 

“I am not your personal charity case,” Ron hissed, obviously angry. 

“I never said you were,” Harry snapped; he had thought they were finished with this argument, they had settled things last year, hadn't they? Thinking about it now though, Harry wasn't sure they actually had settled anything about Ron's jealousy over Harry having money while his family was poor.

Ron shoved his plate of food away. “Then stop treating me like one!” he exclaimed. “Just because you have money doesn't mean you can throw it in everyone's face!” By now people close to them were starting to take an interest in the argument starting between the two best friends. 

“Ron, that's not what Harry's doing,” Hermione insisted, trying to stop the argument, but Harry's temper had been on a rather short fuse this year, and Ron's was as fiery as ever.

“I'm not doing that! I've hardly ever had money in my life,” Harry pointed out, feeling his self-control slipping through his fingers. “Is it that much of a problem that I want to spend it on people I care about? Half the time I have to actually remind myself that I have a vault of my own that actually has money in it!” Harry shouted, glaring at Ron, who glared right back.

Hermione, being the one sitting right next to Harry, could practically feel the magic radiating off of him. She knew she had to defuse the situation quickly before something terrible happened. She glanced up to the head table, and saw that Harry and Ron's argument had also gained the attention of the teachers; McGonagall looked ready to stand and come handle the situation herself. 

“It must be wonderful to have so much money you can't keep track of it all. I bet you didn't even notice when they added Cedric's winnings to your vault,” Ron growled, and that's when things took a turn for the worse. The glass that was next to Ron shattered causing the red head to jump and nearly fall back out of his seat. 

Harry's eyes went wide as he felt his magic suddenly pushing out of him, and he tried to pull it back in quickly before something else happened. 

“You're going to attack me now?” Ron demanded to know, his voice becoming louder as his temper flared further. “Is that how Cedric died? He said something you didn't like?!” Ron bellowed, and suddenly he was knocked back out of his seat then, and the whole Gryffindor table exploded into chaos as the fragile hold Harry had on his magic snapped. 

Harry got out of his own seat, wrapping his arms around himself as though he might be able to hold the magic inside himself; he was oblivious to the fearful expressions on the faces of those around him, and Hermione’s cries of his name, as he stumbled backwards, hoping to put some distance between himself and Ron; Harry was struggling, using all his strength to pull his magic back in, and he screamed as it did just that. 

Ron stood back and watched with a horrified expression on his face as Harry screamed, a magical shield forming around the smaller boy silencing his pained screams. In the chaos of everything, Ron saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw one of the older students with their wand out pointed in the direction of Harry. 

Ron's eyes widened and he turned his attention back to Harry again quickly, only to see none other than Draco Malfoy sitting inside the shield that Harry and put around himself. Before he had any chance to protest this, Malfoy was joined by another Slytherin. 

“What did you do?” Ron asked, looking at the other Gryffindor standing next to him. 

“It was supposed to be a stunning spell,” the older boy said, looking just as confused as Ron by what was happening. “He seems pretty cosy with those Slytherins,” he pointed out. Ron narrowed his eyes and nodded; Harry did seem quite content to curl up closer to the tan Slytherin sitting behind him, and Malfoy was in front of Harry gently running his fingers through the black hair. The sight made Ron kind of sick and he turned away again. 

“Cormac McLaggen,” the older boy next to him said, holding out his hand to shake Ron's. 

~*End Flash Back*~

Ron shook his head; things had been crazy after that. He had shared his thoughts with Dean and Seamus soon after Halloween, and most everyone in the tower now seemed convinced that it had been Harry that killed Cedric. After all, they only had Harry's and Dumbledore's word that it had been Voldemort. And there really wasn't any proof that the Dark Wizard was back and gaining power. 

~*~

Hermione hurried down the hall towards the rooms that Harry now stayed in with Zabini and Malfoy; she was eager to see him. She just felt bad that Fred and George weren't able to come with her, but they had decided it was best if they stayed behind in the tower and keep an eye on Ron. She had agreed that was probably the best idea, having heard from both Fred and George that Christmas hadn't actually been all that much fun, what with Ron trying to convince people that Harry was turning evil. 

Hermione had to admit that she was worried about Ron and the fact that he thought that Harry was becoming malevolent. She wondered how many other people thought that by now. She pushed that to the back of her mind, as she reached the entrance to Harry's room; that was something she would worry about later. Lifting her hand she knocked loudly on the door, hoping that Harry was at least in there. 

She didn't have to wait long before the door opened, and the blond prince of Slytherin stood there in the doorway. “Granger,” Malfoy said, more a statement than an actual agreement; he didn’t look at all pleased with her presence there, but a moment later he sighed. “I suppose you're here to see Harry,” He said, as he moved aside to let her in, ignoring the look of surprise that crossed Hermione's face. “Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?” Draco asked, raising a blonde eyebrow at her.

“You weren't on the train coming back here,” she said, still making no move to enter the room. 

“Brilliant observation,” Draco said, smirking. “Now if you are not coming in after all, I have no problem slamming the door in your face.” 

Hermione hurried through the door before the blond had a chance to just that; though she gave Draco another curious look. She hadn't actively looked for the Slytherin on the Hogwarts Express, but there had been a few people who had been talking about the fact that although Draco had been on the train going home, he wasn't on it coming back. While the other students had their theories about why Draco hadn't been there, Hermione had her own ideas; but she wanted to see Harry first before coming to any conclusions. 

“Hermione!” a rather excited voice exclaimed, and, barely a second later, Hermione was practically tackled in a hug from her friend; she blinked in surprise before returning the hug. “I was hoping you would stop by before classes started tomorrow,” Harry said, pulling back to smile up at her. 

Hermione smiled back, though she was a bit surprised to see Harry so happy; he had been so unhappy before. She looked up from Harry and over to where Blaise was watching them, and then over to Draco, who walked past her and Harry to sit next to Blaise. Though he too watched them, or rather, was watching Harry with a slight smile. 

“Something happened,” Hermione said, looking back down at Harry. And though it was a statement, Harry could hear the request for information it contained.

“Yeah, something did happen,” Harry confirmed and pulled Hermione over to sit with him next to the fire. “The whole story is kind of boring, but...well, Draco opened the bond so...things are better now,” Harry briefly explained. “Draco, where did you leave the book?” he asked, turning to the blond. 

“I think Blaise was reading it last,” Draco said, and the boy next to him nodded in confirmation. “Check the table next to his side of the bed,” Draco added and he watched as Harry hurried off to grab the book about bonding, most likely to give it to Hermione to read. Once Harry was out of the room, though, Hermione locked her eyes onto Draco. 

“What happened?” she demanded to know. “When we left at the start of the holiday you wanted nothing to do with Harry. I come back, and you're already here, and you've opened the bond with Harry, why?” she asked, giving Draco an accusing look; she didn't trust him, which was fair considering how the blond had been treating Harry. 

“It's a long story that quite frankly isn't any of your business, Granger,” Draco said as he sneered at her. “And let me make this one thing perfectly clear, I may be on better terms with Harry now, I may have opened the bond for his sake as well as my own, but I do not like you. I will tolerate you for Harry's sake and nothing else.” Draco settled back in his own chair and picked up a nearby book to start reading it. Hermione opened her mouth to say something else but was cut off by Blaise. 

“Granger, I suggest you let it go. He's tolerating you; if you don't start anything, neither will he,” Blaise said, hoping that the witch would drop it, and if she really wanted questions answered then she would ask Harry. Though Blaise was sure that Harry wouldn't be as forthcoming as she wanted.

Harry came back into the room then, stopping only briefly at tension in the room. He glanced at Draco, giving the blond a questioning look; though Draco didn't look up from the book he was now reading. “Draco,” Harry said. 

“Granger and I have just come to an agreement that's all,” Draco said, answering Harry's unasked question. The black haired boy sighed shaking his head and went over to sit down next to Hermione. It really was the best he could hope for, he just hoped that things wouldn't always be this tense when Hermione was over. 

Harry looked at Hermione and smiled. “We found out what kind of bond we have,” Harry said, holding out the book to Hermione. He watched closely as the witch opened it to the marked page and began reading. Her eyes widened slightly as she read the passage over a few more times making sure that she understood everything. 

“Signature bonds? So, it's not one bond between the three of you, it's two separate ones, between you and Zabini, and you and Malfoy.” Hermione frowned reading it over again. “Which ones do you have though? This says there's different kinds...”

“We're fairly sure that Blaise and I have a magical one. And, then Draco and I...we have an emotional one,” Harry said glancing at the blond, who was still hiding behind his book doing his best to ignore most of the conversation. 

“This book doesn't have much information on it though,” Hermione said as she flipped through the book a bit more, not finding any more information then the basics given in the description of each Signature bond. 

“That book is use mostly to determine what type of bond has been formed. We've been a bit busy and haven't had time to look into it anymore," Blaise explained. "Though Draco and I know one thing for sure; bonds like this, they cannot be broken,” he said looking down at the bushy haired girl. 

“Now that we know what the bonds are, we can do more research,” Hermione said closing the book and handing it back to Harry. He smiled at her fondly; he could tell that she was itching to get over to the library and start looking for more information right away. 

“If you're offering to do the hard work for us, the be my guest,” Blaise said, as he leaned back in his chair. 

“Don't say that! She'll just drag me along to the library with her,” Harry protested. 

Hermione laughed at him. “You say that as if I wasn't going to do that anyway. I want to make sure you're actually caught up on all your work before classes start again tomorrow.” She laughed again when Harry groaned hiding his face in his hands. 

“I'm caught up Hermione, I'm even ahead in a couple subjects.” 

Hermione stood up and reached down pulling Harry back to his feet. “Good, that means we will have more time to look for more information on your bonds,” she said and started pulling him towards the door. Harry looked behind him silently pleading for help from Blaise and Draco, but Blaise just smiled and waved to him as Hermione dragged her friend out the door. 

“Thank Merlin she wasn't here long,” Draco sighed putting the book down. 

“Were you actually reading that?” Blaise questioned.

Draco shook his head. “No, but it kept her from trying to talk to me. Honestly, I don't see how Harry can stand her. She's such an annoying know it all,” the blond grumbled and Blaise chuckled. 

“She can be a bit annoying, but she's not all bad,” Blaise pointed out and laughed at the look of horror that Draco gave him. 

“I'm not about to go out of my way and be friends with her. But she is more tolerable then Pansy is," Blaise pointed out, "and even you can't deny that she's smart.”

Draco ran a hand through his blonde hair, not really caring if it got messed up now that there wasn't anyone else around to see it. “Those are her only redeeming qualities, Blaise. She is still a muggle-born, and that in and of its self makes her not worth my time.” 

“Careful, Dragon, wouldn't want anyone to hear you say that to loud. You're already the son of a Death Eater, wouldn't want anyone else hear you supporting the Dark Lord's views,” Blaise said earning an icy glare from his boyfriend. “I'm just saying, we've both practically joined the side of light here; I know the reasons behind your views on muggle-borns but just be careful with what you say, and where you say it.”

~*~

Severus Snape sat behind his desk grading papers, though even this mindless job he couldn't concentrate on. His mind kept wandering back to the green-eyed boy who had been avoiding him ever since he had seen everything in the boy's mind. The images still haunted Snape now; just another thing to add to the ever growing pile of mistakes he had made. 

Putting his quill down, Snape closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead trying to ward off the headache that was starting. He had spent far to much time thinking about this already. He had done his job and brought it to the attention of not only Dumbledore, but the boy's Godfather as well; though Snape supposed he could just blame Sirius Black for the amount of time that he was thinking about what had happened to the boy. Another image that wouldn't leave the potion master's mind, one of the people that had bullied him in school, practically begging for help. 

Letting out a frustrated sigh Snape stood up; he wouldn't be able to finish grading these papers tonight. He left his office, going into his private rooms in search of something that would stop his headache before it fully formed. 

He had just located his potions phials, when his left arm burned with a searing pain that had the potions master hissing and clutching his arm tightly. He should have been expecting this, but he had hoped that Voldemort would have given him a few more weeks before calling him. The pain in his arm seared again and Snape bit his lip refusing to cry out; this was nothing compared to what awaited him. 

Still clutching his arm he made his way over to his fireplace, grabbing a handful of floo powder; he didn't have time to inform Dumbledore about this sudden summons. He called a house elf, barking out an order to inform the Headmaster that he would be unavailable for the evening. The elf nodded quickly and vanished as Snape threw the powder into the fireplace, calling out his destination before stepping through the green flames.

~*~

Lucius Malfoy sat at the table watching as Severus quickly walked into the room and bowed low before their Lord. They all knew that Voldemort was unhappy with the potions master; whatever task that Snape had been given, it was taking a lot longer to complete then expected. 

“Severus,” Voldemort began, hissing the name like only the snake faced man could. “I gave you a task, Severus.”

“My Lord. The potion is nearly finished,” Snape said, he would not make excuses to this man. It would only make the punishment worse, and he knew that he was already in line to receive punishment this evening.

“Indeed. I trust you will inform me when it is finished? And how to you plan to administer it to the boy?” Voldemort questioned; he was searching for information, Snape could feel the snake like man moving through his mind. Snape made sure his Occlumency shields were set, and only memories that he could afford to show the Dark Lord were pushed to the front of his mind. 

“I have not yet decided, my Lord; it would be difficult to put it in the boy's food, and I will not be able to force him to drink it either,” Snape explained, though he had no intention of making Harry's mind any weaker then it already was. 

“It is part of your task to brew the potion, and give it to the boy. I do not care how it is done,” Voldemort said then narrowed his red eyes down at Snape. The potions master felt the man pushing harder into his mind; the Dark Lord was looking for something, picking through the potion master's mind shoving memories and thoughts aside. “What are you hiding from me, Severus?” Voldemort hissed.

“I am hiding nothing from you, my Lord,” Snape insisted, knowing this was the wrong thing to say, because the Dark Lord had already decided that the man kneeling before him must be hiding something and hated to be contradicted. The curse came quickly and Snape braced himself for the impact, letting the screams be pulled from him as Voldemort held the curse on him. It only lasted a few seconds, and when it was stopped Snape pulled himself back up and resumed kneeling in front of the mad man. 

“You borrowed a book on bonding from Lucius,” Voldemort said catching not only Snape, but Lucius by surprise. 

Snape kept his head bowed and his face void of all emotions. Why was something like that of any importance to Voldemort? Snape didn't think that the blond man had told the Dark Lord about the book, but Lucius wasn't as skilled at Occlumency as Snape was and the snake like man could have picked it right of Lucius' head. “I am sorry my Lord, it was useless information that is irrelevant to the task you have given me,” Snape apologised and felt the curse hit him again. 

“You do not decide what I do, or do not need to know,” Voldemort hissed angrily flicking his wand again. The curse hit Snape once more, sending waves of agony running through every nerve in the man's body; it was held on him longer this time so that by the time Snape was pulling himself back up, his hands were shaking from the effect of the curse. 

“I ask your forgiveness my Lord. I borrowed a book containing information on bonding, one of my students requested the information and was unable to obtain the book for themselves,” Snape said, though was still reluctant to show Voldemort the memory of him handing the book over to Blaise.

“I see, and who did you give the book to?” Voldemort asked smirking in amusement. 

This was a question that Snape did not want to answer, though Voldemort may not or may not have heard of Blaise, or know of the relationship between the tan boy and the Malfoy heir, Lucius most certainly did. And from there it would only take a little more digging before the connection that both the boys had with Harry was revealed. But if he withheld any information from Voldemort, no matter how trivial it may seem, Snape was sure he wouldn't be walking away from the manor tonight. “Blaise Zabini, my Lord,” Snape finally answered, chancing a quick glance over towards Lucius, noticing how stiffly the man was now sitting in his chair.

“Zabini,” Voldemort said thoughtfully, sitting back in his seat and closing his eyes. A smirk quickly formed on his lips and he chuckled darkly. “You are dismissed, Severus, I am giving you two weeks to finish your task Severus. If the boy has not been given the potion within that time...” Voldemort shot one more curse at Snape, making sure the potions master knew exactly what was going to happen should he fail. 

~*~

Harry sighed resting his arms on the book he was currently going through and laying his head on top of his arms. He looked over at Hermione, she had grabbed a stack of books and was going through them. Though she was getting more frustrated with each one as she put one after another aside. 

“I don't get it! How can there not be any books here about anything related to Signature Bonds?” she said and looked over at Harry, who was using his own book as a head rest. 

“I thought you had gone through the library before, and there weren't any books about bonding in here last time,” Harry pointed out. 

“I know but, I thought now that we knew what kind of bond it was, we might be able to find something. It's like all the books about bonding have been removed from the library,” Hermione huffed in annoyance. 

“Why do you want to find more information so badly?” Harry asked lifting his head up to look at Hermione. “We know what the bond is, Blaise, Draco and me are working it out as we go along, so it's not that bad really.” 

“I know,” Hermione sighed. “I just want to do something to help if I can Harry. Blaise said that the bond can't be broken, but what if there are side effects from the bond?”

Harry smiled at Hermione, she always worried about him so much. “It's fine, Hermione.” He sat up straighter. “I'm not just saying that this time either. There might be side effects, but I think we're past the worst of them now that Draco opened his part of the bond.” Harry couldn't help but smile thinking about how much better things had been recently. 

“Can you tell me what happened Harry? Last I knew Draco seemed pretty determined to break the bond as soon as possible.” 

Harry told her about all the recent events she had missed, starting with how Blaise and Draco had taken care of him when he got sick. He didn't tell Hermione about the vision he had had, or his scar hurting, it would just give her another thing to worry about. However, he summarised the discussions that he and Draco had had, and ended with telling Hermione about how he had spent his new years having dinner with Narcissa. 

Hermione sat in silence, letting Harry tell her everything that had happened. She was happy that Sirius had come to spend Christmas with Harry, but she could tell that Harry was leaving out stuff on purpose; she let it slide for now mostly because there wasn't anything she could do about what had happened a week ago already. 

She frowned slightly when she noticed Harry rubbing at his scar every now and then while he talked. The black haired boy didn't even seem to realise he was doing it though. 

“I'm glad things are working out then.” Hermione watched with a worried expression as Harry rubbed his scar again, this time wincing slightly. “Harry? Your scar...”

“It's prickling a little...” Harry rested arms back on the table, and laid his head on them. “It's been doing it on and off all day; although...” Harry trailed pressing a hand to his scar and closing his eyes. 

“Although?” Hermione questioned, but Harry didn't answer pressing his hand harder to his forehead. Hermione reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, only to pull it back when she could actually feel his magic pulsing. “Harry!” She stood up and moved closer to him, though she didn't touch him. 

“It's getting worse,” Harry hissed out. White hot pain suddenly split through his scar and Harry screamed falling out of his chair clutching his head. 

“Harry!” Hermione yelled moving to kneel next to him, only to be blown back by his magic. Harry screamed again, before Hermione could even get back to her feet or even think about going to get Draco and Blaise, the two Slytherin's were there. They came running into the library, not even sparing a glance towards Hermione as they went straight to Harry's side. 

Harry screamed as Blaise tried to move him into a sitting position with Draco's help. The blonde was paler then usual as he felt the echo of Harry's pain that was far worse then anything he had ever felt before. Though, as he looked at Harry, who had his eyes tightly closed, and was biting his lip hard enough to make it bleed in an attempt not to scream again, Draco realised he had felt this pain from Harry before, though the first time had been dulled by the fact that the bond had been closed.

“Harry, it's alright. Blaise and I are here,” Draco said pulling Harry up despite the protests from the struggling boy. Draco wrapped his arms around Harry while Blaise pried Harry's hands away from where they were clutching his head over the scar. 

“Harry, what's wrong?” Blaise asked, though Harry was unable to answer as another wave of pain shot through him. Draco held him tighter. 

“Shh, Harry, we've got you,” Draco said, though was at a loss as to what he could do. He reached up to brush Harry's hair out of the boy's face, but when his fingers connected with the scar several things happened at once. The scar was hot to the touch, and it sent a jolt of pain through Harry, that echoed in Draco's mind, there was a flash of a white face, and red eyes that Draco had only seen in person once. And then there was the high cruel laugh that no one but Harry and now Draco could hear, causing the blonde to suddenly let Harry go and scurry back trying to break whatever connection that just was. 

Blaise managed to catch Harry and hold onto him before he could hit the floor again. “Draco?” Blaise asked when Draco suddenly moved away from them. 

Draco took a few deep breaths, feeling like he was going to be sick and he didn't trust himself to talk right now. His mind was working in over drive at the moment; he had touched Harry's scar, then he had seen and heard Voldemort. He looked at Harry, who was struggling still as Blaise kept the smaller boy from clutching his scar again. Taking a few more deep breaths, Draco moved back over to Harry. “Hold him, Blaise,” Draco instructed, even though the tan boy was holding him already. 

“Harry, look at me” Draco ordered. Pain filled green eyes slowly cracked open to stare into grey ones. “I'm going to get him out of your head,” Draco promised, though he wasn't sure if he would actually be able to accomplish this; but he couldn't leave Harry to suffer like this. Draco didn't wait for Harry to answer, before he leaned forward, pressing his forehead to Harry's, putting his hands on either side of the other boy's head Draco closed his eyes and concentrated on the connection that he had with Harry. 

Draco wasn't sure what he should have expected, but he hadn't expected to see flashes of images before his eyes. Even less expected was the fact that he saw his Godfather in a few of the flashes. The flashes soon turned into a solid image, and Draco felt as if he were watching this sick scene in front of him through a window. 

/Are you enjoying the show child?/ The voice echoed through Draco's mind, and for a moment he thought that Voldemort had found him in Harry's mind. 

“Leave him alone!” Harry shouted as a curse was thrown at Snape. And Draco knew then that the Dark Lord was talking to Harry, and had yet to notice Draco's presence. 

/Worried about the professor you hate so much? This man caused you pain, I thought you might enjoy seeing him in the same amount of pain./ 

“No! I don't want this! Just stop it!” Harry shouted again, and to Draco's surprise he saw the curse being lifted from Snape, the man struggled into a kneeling position. 

/It is curious why you care so much for this man, child./ 

“I don't like him. But don't want him hurt like this either! He hasn't done anything to deserve this,” Harry answered, there was that cruel laugh again making Draco wish that Harry would just stop talking to the Dark Lord. He felt like it was only going to make things worse. 

/He deserves this and so much more./ The voice fell silent then, and Draco turned his attention back to the scene in front of him, but he couldn't watch any more. He didn't want to watch any more, so he started the task that he had set out to do and started weaving his own Occlumency shields around Harry's mind, much like he had done when he had forced Snape out of Harry's mind. 

There was a soft chuckle that echoed through Harry's mind that made Draco's blood run cold. /Little Malfoy, now this is a pleasant surprise./ Draco panicked, throwing the shields up quickly and blocked the images, and the voice from both his and Harry's mind. 

The blonde boy fell back away from Harry who was pale and sweaty, his whole body shaking, and, as Draco tried to sit himself up straighter, he couldn't help but notice that he wasn't any better than Harry was. “What was that?” Draco asked swaying slightly as black spots started to appear in the corner of his vision. The pain in his head was mostly gone at the moment, but he felt so drained. 

Draco looked at Harry when the black haired boy didn't answer, and he saw that Harry was already unconscious. 

“Draco?” Blaise asked, looking from Harry to Draco as the blonde swayed slightly before he too started to fall over, unable to hold himself up any more. 

“Easy there,” someone said as they caught Draco. Blaise looked up and saw one of the Weasley twins, and he wondered when they had gotten there. Looking over to where Hermione now stood, had she gone to find help? Blaise hadn't even noticed. 

“Let's get these two to the hospital wing, Fred went to tell Pomfrey, and probably Dumbledore as well,” George said and easily lifted Draco up. Blaise nodded and easily lifted Harry still not liking how light the boy was. 

“I get the feeling that you know what just happened Granger,” Blaise said as he and George carried Draco and Harry out of the library. 

“It's something I would rather not tell you in the middle of the hallways,” Hermione admitted. Blaise narrowed his eyes but nodded his agreement; he wanted answers. There appeared to be far too many things that Harry was keeping secret. This was the second time something like this had happened to Harry, but with the bond open, it was now effecting Draco, and to Blaise that meant that it was no longer purely Harry's secret to keep. 

TBC


	17. Chapgter 17

Thanks to my beta reader BickyMonster! She is totally awesome! And Thanks to Liz who also helped betaread as well as helping me keep on track so I once again know where I am going with this story!

Unwanted Bonds

Chapter 17

Voldemort couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he leaned back in his seat and watched his loyal followers leave the room, some of them trying to make it look as if they weren't all but running. “Lucius, you will stay,” Voldemort ordered, watching as the blond man tensed slightly before nodding.

“Of course, my Lord,” Lucius said, taking his seat once more. The blond kept his expression blank as he watched the others leave the room, Severus being one of the last to leave. Lucius had been hoping to catch the man before he returned to Hogwarts; if Severus had truly given the book on bonding to Blaise, then Draco was involved somehow as well. The blond man wanted to question his old friend about what secrets he may or may not be keeping. 

“Lucius,” Voldemort said once the door to the room had closed. Lucius looked at the snake-faced man, giving him his full attention. “How is young Draco faring on the mission I gave him?” Voldemort asked, already knowing that Lucius had not yet received word from the boy. 

Lucius held in a sigh; it was pointless to lie to this man but he feared the truth would make him just as angry. “My Lord, I have not heard from Draco since Christmas,” he confessed.

“Your wife recently had dinner with him, did she not?” 

“She did, my Lord,” Lucius admitted, hoping that Narcissa wouldn't be called into the room now. That was one thing that Lucius always tried to avoid because Narcissa detested the meetings so much and he didn't trust the Dark Lord with his wife. “But I am unaware if she knows of the task that you have given Draco,” he added. 

Voldemort raised an eyebrow. “You keep something this important from your own wife Lucius?” he asked mockingly, not really all that curious about it. 

“Of course My Lord. You did not give me permission to speak of it with anyone. I have not told her,” Lucius said before adding, “I do not believe that Draco has either.” He was fairly sure that his son had not spoken to Narcissa about it because he knew that his wife would have been very vocal about her protests to such a thing if she had been informed. 

Much to his relief, though, his answer seemed to please Voldemort; the man smiled sinisterly and seemed to become lost in his own thoughts. Lucius waited patiently where he was; he hadn't been dismissed and he knew that even if Voldemort wasn't speaking right now, it didn't mean that the Dark Lord was finished talking to him. 

“You will inform me the moment Draco has contacted you,” Voldemort ordered, waving his hand and dismissing the blond man. Lucius didn't hesitate to stand and bow, before leaving the room.  
Voldemort watched with narrowed red eyes, as the blond man left, knowing that Draco would not be sending any reports to his father. “Nagini," he hissed to the snake coiled around the legs of his chair. "I believe we have a traitor among us. The only question is what to do.” 

Normally he would have killed any person foolish enough to betray him, but Draco had always shown so much promise. Lucius still remained ever loyal and so Voldemort still held out a small hope that the young Malfoy boy might just be misguided, something a severe punishment would set straight. 

“Perhaps I will watch and see how this unfolds,” he said, smirking in amusement as Nagini hissed in agreement. He has seen Draco in Harry's mind and was very interested to find out how it was possible. That was something that was worth looking into personally. 

~*~

The first thing that Harry was aware of when he woke up was the dull throbbing in his head, an uncomfortable, yet familiar, side effect from the connection he had with Voldemort. Doing his best to ignore the pain in his head, Harry shifted around under the covers that had been wrapped around him just a little too tightly and slowly forced his eyes open. It took no time at all for him to realise he was looking up at the blurry ceiling of the Hospital Wing.

"Oh! Harry, you're awake," he heard Hermione exclaim from somewhere off to the side, promptly followed by the sounds of a chair scraping across the floor. "I'll go get madam Pomfrey," she said.

"No, not yet," Harry said quickly, rubbing his hand over his eyes and temples in an attempt to ease the pain, and he frowned at how scratchy his voice sounded to his own ears. For a moment he worried that Hermione hadn't heard him, but when he slowly rolled his head a little enough to be able to see her standing next to his bed, though he couldn't make out her face without his glasses.

"She told us to get her when either you or Malfoy woke up," Hermione explained, watching Harry as he attempted to sit up. 

His whole body was stiff and sore and he couldn't help but groan a little at the discomfort that the movement caused him. Once he was sat up though, he frowned at Hermione. "Draco's here too?" he asked, reaching over and feeling around on the bedside table for his glasses and giving Hermione a small smile when she took sympathy on him and put them in his hand. 

He put them on and looked around, spotting Draco lying in the bed next to his apparently unconscious. Blaise was sitting in a chair between their two beds, though closer to Draco's than Harry's. The Italian boy's eyes were closed and the slow rise and fall of his chest indicated to Harry that he was sleeping, likely having nodded off while waiting for them to wake up. 

Harry's frown deepened and he rubbed at his temples as his head throbbed again; he tried to ignore the pain and remember what had happened. Why was Draco here? He knew the blond had done something, had touched his scar. Harry remembered seeing Voldemort torturing Snape, and that the man had taunted him about it. But then Draco had somehow managed to get Voldemort out of his head, but not before... 

Harry's eyes widened as he remembered, and he looked at Hermione sharply. “I need to talk to Dumbledore,” he said in a rush as he threw the blanket off himself to get off of the bed. 

Hermione stared with wide eyes and moved quickly to try and stop him from getting up, even though she knew from experience that it would be useless. “Harry, calm down," she said firmly, trying to push Harry back into the bed. 

"I have to speak to Dumbledore," Harry insisted urgently.

"I'll go get Pomfrey and she can call Professor Dumbledore here,” she offered, as Harry tried to move past her, despite her attempts to get him to get onto the bed. 

The noise that Harry and Hermione were making managed to wake up Blaise. The tan boy looked at Harry curiously before standing up and moving over to the bed to help Hermione with him. He could already feel Harry's magic pulsing in the air, and he knew he needed to help calm the smaller boy before it got out of control. 

"You just woke up and your already having a magical outburst?" Blaise asked incredulously, as he quickly and unceremoniously moved Hermione out of the way and grabbed hold of Harry before he could go anywhere. 

"Let me go!" Harry cried out as he struggled against the hold that Blaise had on him, but the Slytherin just pulled him closer still, wrapping his arms around the Gryffindor, even as the smaller boy continued to struggle. 

The bushy haired girl was a little put out at having been pushed aside, but knew that she couldn't do much for Harry at the moment, and so she stepped back and watched as Blaise took over.

“I have to talk to Dumbledore! It's urgent!” Harry said frantically. 

Blaise frowned at the near panicked tone in Harry's voice. “Harry you need to calm down,” he instructed, not loosening his hold.

"I think he has the right to panic about this," Draco said groggily as he slowly sat up in his own bed, still looking and sounding far too tired to even be awake. Blaise glanced over at the blond as he continued holding Harry against his chest, able to feel the smaller boy's magic thrumming threatening around them. 

"I need to talk to Dumbledore," Harry insisted a little more calmly, though still trying and failing to pull away from Blaise. He didn't care if his magic tried to bring down half the castle, the only thing on his mind was that Voldemort knew about the bond that he shared with Draco; and Harry thought it probably wouldn't take much for Voldemort to work out that Blaise was part of it as well.

"I doubt there is anything Dumbledore can do about it now, Potter," Draco snapped irritably, however, he sighed when he saw Harry stop struggling with Blaise and look over at him with wide eyes. 

Harry could feel that Draco was upset, but then again the blond had every right to be upset with him. Harry was really hoping that all the progress they had made wasn't going to go to waste, and he feared that they were going to find themselves right back where they started.

"I'm not completely mad at you, Harry," Draco said with another frustrated sigh; he could see the hurt on the Gryffindors face every bit as much as he could feel it through their bond. "I am angry at the unexpected situation, give that it is going to put my family in danger,” Draco pointed out. 

Harry paled at that; the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. If Voldemort knew about the bond, or at the very least that Draco had some kind of connection to Harry, then he was sure to use Draco's family against him. And, while Harry would never care for Lucius at all, Narcissa had been very kind to him during New Year's dinner and Harry would never forgive himself is something happened to her. 

“I have to tell Dumbledore about what I saw," Harry insisted, no longer fighting against Blaise's hold, letting the tan boy's presence calm his magic. "He'll be able to do something, even if it's only getting a letter to your mother...” he said, trying to reason with the blond boy, who shook his head. 

“I don't trust him, Harry,” Draco admitted. “He has never given me any reason to trust him, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why you trust him. I want to talk to my Godfather, he'll be more help than Dumbledore.”

Hermione watched Harry and Draco as they had their conversation. This was getting them nowhere and Harry had started trying to get away from Blaise again, who just tightened his hold on the smaller boy. “I'm going to get Pomfrey,” Hermione insisted and she hurried across the hospital wing to Pomfrey's room, thinking that the school nurse could then contact Dumbledore, who could then also contact Snape. 

Harry huffed when Hermione ran off before any of them could stop her, reluctantly letting Blaise help him back into his bed. He didn't want to have the school nurse hovering over him, but he knew that Hermione would also insist on Pomfrey getting Dumbledore down here as well. So that was something at least. 

“Are you going to stay in bed now?” Blaise asked as he climbed onto the bed next to him and wrapped his arms around the other boy, and Harry nodded slowly. “Good. Now, does someone want to explain to me what exactly is happening?” Blaise asked, still unhappy about the fact that Harry had obviously been keeping a pretty large secret from them.

"I would also like to know the answer to that," Draco said. "I'm sure there is a very good explanation as to why the Dark Lord was inside your mind." Draco fixed Harry with a hard stare, ignoring how Harry refused to look at either him or Blaise all of a sudden. 

Harry tried to get away from Blaise again, shrugging the tan boy's arms off from around him. Blaise frowned at that, slowly letting the smaller boy go now that his magic wasn't threatening to explode out, and getting off the bed. But he didn't move away, staying close just in case Harry panicked again.

"I don't know if you would consider it a 'good explanation'," Harry said quietly, "but... Voldemort... I'm connected to him, through my scar." Harry clenched his hands into fists as he stared down at his lap. "It burns whenever he's near... but, at the beginning of this year it started hurting at random times, then the visions started..." Harry bit his lip and waited for either Draco or Blaise to say something. When neither boy spoke Harry lifted his head slightly to look up at Blaise, and then to Draco.

Draco looked slightly paler than he had before and Blaise looked a little shocked. Out of all the secrets that Harry could have been keeping from them, Blaise had not expected this. Both boys remained silent and Harry continued watching them, feeling tense as he waited for one of them to say something. To his surprise, it was Draco who spoke first. 

“I honestly didn't think you would have answered that question so willingly,” the blond admitted, unsure of what else to say. He was shocked to find that Harry had a connection with the Dark Lord, and more than a little frightened by the idea, but he had just used his own Occlumency shields to force the Dark Lord out of Harry's mind. He didn't know if there was much else that would have frightened him as much as going up against the evil wizard had. 

“There really wasn't any reason not to tell you...” Harry said softly. “I just... I didn't think it was something that would have effected you too.” 

“If you didn't have a reason to keep it secret, then why did you?” Blaise snapped, not happy with the fact that something this big had been kept from him and Draco.

“When was I supposed to tell you? When the bond was first formed? I did tell you both then that being bound to me would put you on Voldemort's hit list... Or maybe I should have told you over Christmas?” Harry suggested with frustration. “Things have just started working out with the bond, and it's not like I can just start a conversation saying 'Oh, by the way, Voldemort sometimes pops into my head for a visit',” Harry said, his own anger raising. “Most days I try not to think about the fact that I have some psycho that can force me to see what he's doing.”

“How could you NOT think about something like that?” Draco asked, sounding shocked and looking a little sick. 

“It's all I can do," Harry pointed out. "I suck at Occlumency, you've seen for yourself how bad I am at it. My only other option is to sit in my room worrying myself sick about when Voldemort is going to try and invade my mind again,” he tried to explain. 

“If you put more effort into Occlumency...” Draco started but Harry shook his head. 

“It's not as easy as everyone makes it out to seem, Draco," Harry insisted. "I HAVE tried. I've read the books. I clear my mind like Snape tells me to. I know I must be doing something wrong but nothing I do works! I am sorry I didn't tell you two sooner about this connection, but there really wasn't a good time TO tell you. And you know now...” Harry said, looking from Draco to Blaise and wondering how long the two of them were going to be angry at him for this. 

The three of them all turned as they heart the footsteps of Hermione coming back, and saw that she was leading Pomfrey and Dumbledore towards them. The nurse quickly set to work checking over Harry, making sure that he was alright. 

“Harry, my boy, I am glad you are awake," Dumbledore greeted as the nurse fussed over the teenager. "Miss Granger informed me about what had happened in the library. I was very worried when you hadn't woken up after an hour,” Dumbledore admitted. “I thought that there might have been some damage...”

“No sir, no damage, no more than usual," Harry assured him, looking to Madam Pomfrey, who nodded her agreement with that sentiment before moving over to check on Draco next. "But, sir, Draco did something, he managed to push Voldemort out. But because he did that, I think, Voldemort must know about the bond now,” Harry said, ignoring the glare that Draco was sending him as the nurse fussed over the blond. “Draco wants to talk to Snape about this too, but I think we need to get in touch with Mrs Malfoy somehow. If Voldemort knows about the bond...” Harry trailed off, not wanting to voice his worry about what could possibly happen to Narcissa if Voldemort did decide to use her. 

“I understand, Harry, but unfortunately Professor Snape is not here at the moment,” Dumbledore informed them. 

“My Godfather isn't here?” Draco asked his eyes going wide. Had the Dark Lord hurt his godfather badly enough that the man had been forced to stay at Malfoy Manor? 

“I assure you, Mr. Malfoy, as soon as he returns I will send him to find you,” Dumbledore promised. “In the mean time, I would suggest that you do not try contact home. If what Harry said is true and Voldemort does know about the bond between you and Harry, it could be very dangerous,” the headmaster told him, ignoring the glare that Draco was now directing at him and turning his attention back to Harry. 

“Sir, what are we going to do about Draco's mother?" Harry asked, not going to let the matter go. "If he can't contact home, then how are we going to get in touch with her?”

“If Professor Snape has not returned by tomorrow morning, then we shall think of a way to get in touch with Mr. Malfoy's parents,” Dumbledore assured them. Harry reluctantly agreed, not missing the sceptical expression that Draco was wearing; however, there wasn't much else that could be done right now.

“If you don't mind now, Headmaster, these boys need their rest," Pomfrey said as a way of dismissing him not approving of her patients being exposed to such stresses. The headmaster gave her a respectful bow of agreement and she turned to give a look to Hermione, who had also given her trouble about leaving the hospital wing a few times before. But Hermione wasn't going to argue with her tonight. 

"Don't even suggest that I leave," Blaise said firmly, as Hermione went to hug Harry, wishing her best friend goodnight, before heading out of the medical wing. "I am bonded to both Harry and Draco, I'm staying with them," he insisted, and Madam Pomfrey reluctantly nodded her head.

 

Dumbledore hesitated a moment longer , looking at Harry again. “Get some rest, my boy,” he said affectionately. He looked to Draco as well, knowing full well that the boy didn't trust him and there was little he could do to change his mind. “You as well, Mr. Malfoy. I will send Professor Snape to see you once he returns,” he said and turned to leave, following Hermione from the Hospital Wing. 

"You may take one of the empty beds, Mr Zabini," Pomfrey said, as she fussed over both Harry and Draco, giving them both a potion that would help them get some more rest. Blaise made his way over to one of the empty beds and appeared to settle himself in to get some sleep as well, the nurse giving him a curt nod of approval before heading off to her office. 

However, once Madam Pomfrey had returned to her office, Blaise climbed back out of bed, and waved his wand to levitate it so that it wouldn't make any noise as he moved it. He gently lowered it back onto the floor right next to Draco's. The blond boy gave Blaise a smile, picked up his own wand, and waved it so that the two beds were now joined into one larger one. 

Harry watched them silently from his own bed as Blaise climbed into the bigger bed next to Draco and the two boys settled down to get some sleep. He let out a small sigh and was about to lay back down to try and sleep when Draco, who was the closer of the two, spoke. 

“You don't have to stay over there you know,” Draco said as he rolled over onto his side to look at Harry, who gave him a confused look. “You're still stressed, and worried, you're not going to be able to sleep unless you calm down. Blaise and I are obviously very helpful with that,” Draco reasoned and Harry's cheeks turned slightly pink at the thought of sharing the now over-sized bed with both Draco and Blaise. 

“Won't it be a little awkward?” Harry asked. 

“No more awkward then this whole bond is anyway,” Blaise commented, watching as Draco stood up and went over to Harry's bed and grabbed the smaller boy's hand. Harry didn't really protest as he was pulled from his own bed and led over to theirs. Draco gently shoved him to get into the bed and climbed back in himself once Harry had settled himself down. 

Harry's face was bright red as he was sandwiched between both Blaise and Draco, lying there a little stiffly, not wanting to encroach on either of the other boys' space. However, neither of them seemed to mind having him there, as Draco removed his glasses for him, and he felt Blaise slowly running fingers through his hair.

“I am worried about my mother as well Harry, but she is not a weak woman,” Draco said and Harry found it a little weird that Draco was the one reassuring him about Narcissa. 

“I am sorry I didn't tell you about the connection,” Harry said, wanting them both to know that he really was sorry that he hadn't told them about Voldemort. But there truly hadn't been a good chance to bring it up at all. 

“We know now, Harry,” Blaise said, echoing Harry's earlier words.

“And I know that I can use my own shields to protect your mind. So...that is one less thing that you have to worry about,” Draco pointed out with a smile, more than a little proud of himself that his shields were apparently strong enough to keep the Dark Lord out. 

Blaise continued running his fingers through Harry's hair, watching as those green eyes struggled to stay open but kept sliding shut, staying closed for longer each time they did. “I can send a letter off to my mother tomorrow if Professor Snape isn't back by then," Blaise offered. "She can invite Draco's mother to stay with her for a while,” he informed both Harry and Draco. 

Harry smiled softly at that, glad they had at least some kind of plan and feeling comforted by Blaise's touch as he fell asleep. Draco gave Blaise a grateful look as he settled down to get some hopefully peaceful sleep of his own. 

~*~

Ron looked up when he heard the portrait door open; he didn't say anything as he watched Hermione climb into the common room and close the door behind her. She didn't seem to have noticed him until he stood up. 

“Ron,” she said looking a little startled to see him up so late, as it was well past curfew.

“I heard Harry landed in the hospital wing again,” Ron said and Hermione frowned, looking at the red headed boy in front of her. He looked a little uncertain as he looked around the common room, and Hermione also looked around curiously; it was late and they were the only two in the room at the moment, something that made Hermione a little nervous considering how strange Ron had been acting recently. 

“Yeah...his scar,” Hermione said, knowing that Ron would understand what she meant without her going into detail. 

“Right, that thing.” Ron snorted then shook his head and Hermione frown deepened as she watched him. She wanted to ask him why he hated Harry all of a sudden, enough to try and attack him at least on one occasion, but before she could say anything to him she heard footsteps coming down the stairs from the boys dorms. 

Both Ron and Hermione looked at the stairs as one of the upper years came into the common room. “Hey, Cormac,” Ron greeted and Hermione blinked looking from the sixth year to Ron.

“Hey, Ron,” Cormac said as he paused on the bottom step catching sight of Hermione. “Sorry, didn't know you were busy,” he said but continued towards them anyway, his eyes never leaving Hermione “Don't think we've really met before.” Cormac held his hand out to her. “Cormac Mclaggen,” he introduced. 

“Hermione Granger,” Hermione said but didn't take the offered hand. She looked curiously at Cormac however, then back over to Ron giving him a look of suspicion. 

“What?” Ron asked blinking at her and Hermione shook her head; she couldn't talk to Ron with Mclaggen here.

“I'm going to bed,” She announced before hurrying out of the common room before either of the boys could say anything. She paused when she got a few steps up, looking behind her at Cormac, who was still watching her. There was something about him that set her on edge. She was curious about when Ron had even become friends with the older boy; she didn't think she had been that unobservant. Turning back around she hurried up the stairs and into her own dorm room. She would have to talk to Fred and George about it tomorrow. 

TBC

So there is a bit more information about Ron here. And the relationship between Harry Blaise and Draco is definitely progressing in the right direction! <3 Hopefully that will continue going well for the three of them.


	18. Chapter 18

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 18

Harry felt warm and safe; it was such a nice feeling that he snuggled up closer to the warmth next to him and attempted to force himself to stay asleep just a little longer, afraid that when he woke up the feeling of being safe would go away. But a soft chuckle had Harry blinking his eyes open slowly.

"Good morning, Harry," someone greeted him and Harry frowned looking over his shoulder to the person who spoke; he saw the blurry outline of Blaise.

"Morning..." Harry greeted back, trying to get his tired brain to work and figure out why Blaise was here in the first place.

"If you're awake now, can I have my arm back?" Draco requested and Harry blinked again, turning back around to look up at Draco, who Harry could see a bit better then Blaise due to the fact that he was curled up rather close to Draco's chest. Harry sat up quickly in surprise, watching while Draco sat up a bit slower and rotated his arm that Harry had apparently been lying on.

"Every time Draco tried to move his arm you would move closer to him," Blaise said, and he laughed when Harry's face went bright red.

"I'm sorry," Harry said, looking highly embarrassed that he had done something like that in his sleep.

"I didn't want to wake you up after yesterday, you needed the sleep," Draco said, looking Harry over. "You're okay today though?" Although he couldn't feel anything through their bond, he was curious if there were any other side effects from Harry's vision that he couldn't feel.

Harry nodded, shifting uncomfortably; he wasn't sure how to feel at being watched so closely by Draco and Blaise both, and the fact that he was still on the bed in-between the two of them wasn't helping any either. "Yeah, I'm alright now," Harry said before moving down to the end of the bed. 

Blaise and Draco watched him curiously and Blaise laughed as Harry climbed out of the bed. "You just woke up and you're already planning on making your escape from the hospital wing?" Blaise asked. "Madam Pomfrey isn't going to like that."

Harry looked at Blaise. "If I don't get up now she's going to keep me here all day,” he told him. “I don't like just laying here when there isn't anything wrong with me." Once he was on his feet Harry stretched, wincing slightly as his muscles were still a little sore from yesterday.

"Maybe she would let you go sooner if you stopped sneaking out of here all the time?" Draco suggested. "It's not really all that bad is it? After all, you're the one who said that you wanted an extra day of vacation," Draco pointed out and Harry's smile vanished.

"I did say that, didn't I?" He sighed. "I guess I should learn to be careful of what I wish for," Harry said, though knew that would never happen. After all he had spent most of his life wishing he could be anywhere except with the Dursleys; that wish had come true, only he was now the main target of a mad man.

"It looks like you're thinking too hard," Blaise said and Harry smiled at him.

"That's because I am," Harry replied then looked at Draco. "Are you staying here?" he asked, he didn't want to stay in the hospital wing but he didn't want to just go off on his own while Draco waited to be released.

Draco looked at Harry curiously for a moment before replying. "I think we should wait for Pomfrey to tell us we can go. Besides, I don't know about you but I could use a mild muscle relaxant." Draco smiled when he saw Harry's cheeks turn slightly pink again before the green eyed boy looked away.

"I'll stay too I guess," Harry agreed, as he moved to sit on the bed he had been given last night, wondering how long it would be before Pomfrey checked on them.

~*~

Severus sighed as he finally made it back to his rooms at Hogwarts; he had reluctantly spent the night at his home at Spinners End, as he had been in too much pain from the curse and knew he would have been questioned by Dumbledore. That wasn't something he would have been able to deal with last night on top of everything else.

Snape had spent the whole night expecting to see Lucius show up and demand answers, but thankfully the blond man had not followed him; however, Snape was now unsure of what his next move should be. He was sure that he would be contacted by Lucius at some point, and he was going to have to be very careful with what he told the man. Snape let out another long sigh; he was stretching himself out to thin, if he wasn't careful then he was going to slip up and that was something that he couldn't afford.

Snape sat down in one of his chairs, closing his eyes as his hands and muscles twitched. No sooner had he started relaxing when his fireplace sprang to life and Dumbledore's head appeared in the flame.

"Ah, Severus, I was beginning to worry that something had happened. You were called out so suddenly, then when you did not return..." Dumbledore trailed off and smiled at the potions master. "I am glad to see you are unharmed."

"What do you want, old man?" Snape asked not in the mood to really listen to Dumbledore at the moment. Maybe if the Headmaster had given him half an hour to take some potions to stop the shaking, and perhaps get something to eat, then he would be capable of listening to Dumbledore ramble on but as of right now he did not want to listen to anyone.

"Just once I wish you would allow me to show my concern for your well being. However, right to business as always," Dumbledore said as Snape narrowed his eyes at the Headmaster. "I will want to know why you were called away so suddenly. But first things first; I made a promise to young Mr. Malfoy that I would send you to see him when you returned, I believe that he is still being held in the hospital wing by Poppy at the moment."

Snape sat up a bit straighter in his chair; he could count on one hand the amount of times that Draco had been in the hospital wing, the boy was usually very careful about that, insisting most times to wait for his godfather to patch him up rather than visit the school nurse. "What happened?"

"I believe Draco would be better suited for the explanation," the Headmaster told him a little cryptically. "I can tell you however that there is another unexpected aspect to the bond that even I didn't anticipate. Though it may work to our advantage," Dumbledore said and Snape narrowed his eyes not liking the sound of that one bit. Dumbledore was infinitely better to work for than Voldemort, but even the headmaster did things that Snape would never agree with.

Letting out a frustrated sigh Snape stood up, ignoring the lingering pain from the curse. "I shall head there now," Snape said, and Dumbledore nodded in approval before disappearing from the fireplace. He left his room making sure to grab a pain potion on his way out before he made his way quickly to the hospital wing; it was still early but if Draco had been asking for him since last night then Snape didn't want to wait much longer, even if he had to wait for his godson to wake up.

He needn't have worried though, as even from outside the door he could hear raised voices inside the Medical Wing. Taking a moment to listen, Snape sighed, hearing that it was in fact Potter that was raising his voice, and by the sound of it he was arguing with Poppy.

Snape opened the door and stood there watching as Harry tried to get off his bed but was unable to As Pomfrey blocked him once again. “This wouldn't take as long if you would sit still.” Pomfrey said. Blaise and Draco were also watching the small Gryffindor, with looks of amusement.

"I said I'm fine, nothing hurts," Harry said looking up at the school nurse as she just nodded.

"So you keep saying, but I am the one qualified to tell if you are indeed fine," Pomfrey said waving her wand over Harry again.

"Is it really that bad?" Blaise asked from where he was sitting on Draco's bed, which had been put back to normal before Pomfrey could see that the boys had rearranged things.

"I just wish people would listen to me when I tell them that I'm fine," Harry said; he tried not to pout, he really did, but from the amused look Draco was giving him he was sure he was in fact pouting.

Snape walked further into the room closing the door behind him, causing the four people in the room to turn and look at him. "You may feel fine, Potter, but I believe that your idea of what fine actually is may be different than the rest of ours," Snape said, ignoring the glare that Harry sent his way.

"You're one to talk, Severus," Pomfrey commented before returning her attention to Harry again and finished with her check up. She didn't find anything, but she wanted to really make sure Harry was alright while she had him there. Satisfied that there wasn't any damage, Pomfrey then turned her attention onto Draco, who sat there quietly while she worked, though his eyes never left his Godfather.

“Well, I see no reason why these boys can't leave,” Pomfrey said. “Do try to stay out of trouble.” She directed this mostly to Harry, who smiled at her. Shaking her head but smiling Pomfrey sighed and looked at Snape. “They may be fine, but could do with some more rest. Try not to bully them too much,” she said before heading to her office.

Snape waited until Pomfrey had left the room, he then looked at Draco. "The Headmaster informed me that you were here; what happened?" Snape asked, though in truth he was asking all three boys for an answer.

"It was my fault," Harry spoke up looking at Snape, though he was finding it difficult to keep eye contact with the man when he remembered that Snape knew all of his worst memories. Lowering his head slightly, Harry continued talking. "I couldn't protect my mind and I saw the death eater meeting. I'm sorry, I think Voldemort-"

"I will request that you do not say his name, Mr. Potter,” Snape said his voice coming out a bit harsher then he had meant it to. If he hadn't been watching Harry closely, he may have missed the tiny flinch, but the boy nodded once before he continued speaking.

"I think some of what he did, it was because I kept telling him to stop," Harry informed Snape, who said nothing but stood there watching the small boy on the bed. 

Draco glared at his godfather before standing up and moving quickly over to the bed Harry was sitting on. He did this partly as a way to make Harry less nervous, but also to put himself between Harry and the potions master. This did not go unnoticed by Snape.

"There is more," Draco said, as he looked up at Snape. "We believe that He knows about the bond, at least he knows that Harry and I are connected,” Draco explained, putting his hand over Harry's when he felt the boy next to him tense.

Snape closed his eyes, feeling his head start to pound; just once he wanted something to be easy. Opening his eyes to look at Harry sitting stiffly next to Draco, he reminded himself that nothing was ever easy when dealing with Potter.

"This complicates a lot of things," Snape said looking from Draco and Harry, over to Blaise, who hadn't moved from his own spot, but Snape had noticed how the tan boy had his hand clenched around his wand. However, Snape was sure that as long as he didn't do anything to Harry, Blaise wouldn't do anything.

Snape looked back at Draco and Harry. "I would like to speak with all three of you in my rooms, it is more private there than the middle of the hospital wing," Snape said. "There is a lot that needs to be discussed. I need to speak with the Headmaster first, then I will meet you three in my rooms."

"Wait!" Draco spoke up quickly before his godfather could leave and the potions master paused, turning back to the young blond. "My mother..."

"Is in no immediate danger," Snape assured him. "I will do my best to speak with her as soon as I can, but at the moment it would be unwise to draw more attention to this situation." Snape waited for Draco to nod his head, not looking happy with the answer but understanding it was the best thing to do right now. “I shouldn't be too long with the Headmaster. Go down to my rooms and I shall meet all three of you there shortly,” Snape ordered and, waiting just long enough for Draco to nod his head again in agreement, the potions master turned and left the room quickly.

“Before we go down to Professor Snape's rooms, I will send that letter to my mother,” Blaise promised as he moved over to sit next to Draco, hoping to offer what little comfort he could. Harry too was looking at the blond with concern. 

The whole situation was difficult and Blaise could understand where both Dumbledore and Snape were coming from; it would not be wise to contact anyone at Malfoy Manor directly, because if Voldemort really did know about the bond, then that would cause more trouble and put even more people in danger, and, in the unlikely chance that he didn't, it would likely bring it to his attention. Either way, it meant they had to get in touch with Narcissa by means other than talking to her; they could only hope that a offer to visit Blaise's mother would not arouse suspicion.

Draco nodded, standing up. “Let's get that done now," he agreed, knowing he would feel better with something being done to ensure his mother's safety. "I don't know what my godfather wants to talk about, so we may not have time to send a letter later.”

Harry agreed that it was better to send the letter before going to talk with Snape. The sooner Narcissa was out of Malfoy manor the better. “You can borrow Hedwig if you want,” Harry offered looking at Blaise.

“People recognize her too easily," tan boy declined with a shake of his head. "I can just use one of the school owls." The. 

Harry nodded his understanding, he couldn't argue with that; Hedwig was recognised very easily as being his owl. But he did want to do something to help, as he felt like it was his fault that they even had to get Draco's mother somewhere safe. Letting out a small sigh, Harry stood up and the three of them left the hospital wing together.

The walk up to the Owlery was quiet, and once they reached it Harry wandered straight over to where Hedwig was perched, stroking her feathers while Blaise wrote out a letter under Draco's watchful gaze. The tan boy then selected a school owl to deliver it.

"There, that's done," Blaise said once he had attached the letter to the owl and released it, watching it fly off. The tan boy looked at Draco, who was watching the owl until it was out of sight.

"I suppose we should go see what Professor Snape wants," Blaise said as he took Draco's hand and looked over to where Harry was still petting his owl. "You ready, Harry?" Blaise asked. The black-haired boy didn't say anything but nodded his head. Giving Hedwig an owl treat before turning to follow the two Slytherins down to the dungeon.

\------x

 

 

Dumbledore sat back in his chair looking thoughtful, the twinkle gone from his eyes as he listened to Snape's retelling of the death eater meeting.

"This is troubling," Dumbledore said. "Harry has already informed me that Voldemort knows about the connection between himself and young Mr. Malfoy. The potion you are to give Harry..."

"I refuse to give it to him," Snape interrupted. "I tried to tell you before, with that potion Potter's mind will be wide open. It was originally created for patients at Saint Mungos who we're comatose,” Snape said trying get the headmaster to understand how dangerous it would be if Harry took something like that. “The Dark Lord has easy enough access to Potter's mind as it is, I can only guess at what he will be able to do with nothing there to stop him.”

"My dear boy, there will still be something there to stop him,” Dumbledore said. “It has come to my attention that Mr. Malfoy was able to shield Harry's mind and was successful in pushing Voldemort out. Your position as a spy is very important to the Order right now.”

Snape narrowed his eyes. “I will not give him the potion,” Snape insisted. “Not only does it put him at risk, but you are now willing to put Draco at risk as well.”

Dumbledore sighed and leaned back in his chair closing his eyes. “Let me think on this; you still have a little time left before he expects the potion to be finished,” Dumbledore said opening his eyes once more to look at Snape. “I will think of something that will hopefully allow you to keep your position as a spy.”

Snape nodded, knowing that they did need someone on the inside to bring information. However, he was unwilling to put Potter in any more danger, the boy managed that well enough without the added help. “If there is nothing else, I wish to go and finish speaking with my godson,” Snape said not waiting for a reply before standing up.

“I will inform you when I have thought of something,” Dumbledore said and let Snape leave his office. The Headmaster had a lot to think about.

\----x 

When Snape arrived in the corridor where his rooms were located he saw Blaise leaning against the wall next to his door, with Draco tucked into one side; Harry was sitting on the floor against the opposite wall from the other two. It was his godson who noticed him first.

Snape didn't say anything to them as he opened his door. Draco pulled away from Blaise and went inside first, Blaise following after. Harry, however, didn't move from where he was still sitting on the floor. Snape looked at him and raised a black eyebrow at the boy.

“There are things I need to discuss with you as well, Potter,” Snape said, trying not to sneer at the boy who was staring up at him. Harry blinked at him and slowly stood up but made no move to enter the room. “I do not have all day,” Snape said and still Harry didn't move, Snape took a step towards the boy but stopped when he saw him flinch back against the wall.

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back up at Snape. “Are you okay?” Harry asked, feeling more than a little strange that he was asking Snape of all people if he was alright. The potions master narrowed his eyes at Harry. “You were put under the Cruciatus multiple times,” Harry explained quickly.

“I am more than capable of taking care such things,” Snape hissed. “Now, if you are finished, get inside so we can discuss things that are more important.”

Harry glared at Snape before he pushed off the wall and walked passed the taller man into the room. Snape following behind him and closed the door. Harry tensed when he saw Snape pull his wand out and cast a few spells on the door; though Harry couldn't tell what they were as the potions master hadn't actually spoken, he suspected that they were silencing and warding charms, possibly even a locking one.

Turning his attention away from Snape, Harry looked to Blaise and Draco, seeing that they had sat down on the settee, leaving one empty seat open and a small stool by the fire. Deciding that Snape would most likely be taking the chair, Harry made his way over to the stool to sit down. However, as he passed by Blaise and Draco a hand shot out and grabbed the back of his robes, pulling him back to sit on the settee in-between the two boys already sat there.

Harry was going about to protest but Blaise put a hand over his mouth. “There is more than enough room on the settee for the three of us,” he whispered to the smaller boy and Harry sighed but didn't try to get up. Satisfied that Harry would remain sitting with them, Blaise looked over at Snape, who had made his way over to the chair.

Draco was also watching his godfather closely, waiting until the man had sat down before speaking. “What did you want to talk to us about?” he asked.

Snape looked at the three of them again, taking in the fact that Blaise had his wand out, and although it was resting on his lap, it was still within easy reach. And, as he spoke, Draco had also shifted slightly so that Harry was partly hidden from view. 

“First I think there is something that needs to be cleared up,” Snape said and looked at Harry. “Our last Occlumency lesson,” Snape began, taking notice at how Harry's whole body seemed to stiffen, that Blaise's hand was now resting on his wand and that Draco shifted again. But Snape ignored them and continued to address Harry. “I had no intention of harming you.”

“Could have fooled me,” Blaise snapped. Harry didn't look away from Snape, whose black eyes remained locked on him.

“It didn't hurt,” Harry said trying not to sound defensive.

“Whether it hurt or not is irrelevant," Snape told him bluntly. "I was ordered to teach you Occlumency; the longer it took for you to learn what should have been a simple concept, the harder I pushed you. In the end your mind retaliated to the attack, I should not have pushed you as hard as I did,” Snape said, and though he didn't actually say the words, Harry took the apology for what it was.

Harry nodded his understanding. “I didn't actually mean to do that...” he admitted.

“Why did you push him so hard?” Blaise asked his hand still holding his wand.

Snape turned his attention to the tan boy. “By now you are aware of the connection that Potter has with the Dark Lord.”

Blaise nodded his head once. “Yes, Harry told Draco and me about it last night.”

“It is believed that if he can use Occlumency then the connection between them will be blocked. I understand that this has actually be proven now as well,” Snape said and looked at Draco, who nodded.

“Yes, I was able to enter Harry's mind and use my own Occlumency shield to block Him out,” Draco explained. “Why is there a connection between them though?” he asked and Snape could only shake his head.

“That is something that I don't know,” Snape said, then looked once more at Harry. “There is another reason why it was so important for you to learn Occlumency, Potter.”

“Another reason?” Harry frowned, feeling like he should already know what this 'other reason' was.

“At this moment I have been tasked with brewing a potion for the Dark Lord," Snape informed them. "My instructions were to brew the potions then administer it to you.” 

“What potions?” Draco asked curiously.

“Mente Aperta.” Snape watched as Draco frowned in thought, before the teenager's eyes widened.

“That potion...You can't give him that!” Draco said. “If you give him that...” Draco didn't even want to think about what would happen if Harry took that potion. The visions the smaller boy had were bad enough but at least there was still a barrier between his mind and Voldemort's at the moment.

“What? What does it do?” Harry asked looking from Draco to Snape.

“It's a potion that was banned in quite a few countries,” Blaise said catching Harry's attention. “The name of the potions literally means 'Open Mind',” Blaise explained.

“If you take that potion, I don't think there will be any way to tell where your mind ends and the Dark Lord's mind begins.” Draco sounded almost frightened by the idea, and Harry couldn't blame him; being connected to Harry's mind mentally also gave Draco a connection to Voldemort as well.

“There is no proof of that,” Snape said cutting off all conversation, “as something like this has not been tested; though it is highly likely that what Draco says is true. However, I do not plan on giving you the potion.” Snape looked at the three boys and watched as Harry and Draco both visibly relaxed.

“But wait...” Harry frowned looking at Snape, “if I don't take the potion, won't Voldemort know that you're a spy?”

Snape didn't reply to this, though there really wasn't any need to, Harry already knew; if Snape didn't do as he was told then his position as a spy would be compromised and he would be on Voldemort's hit list. And if he got killed by Voldemort... Harry didn't want to think about that. “There isn't a way for Voldemort to think I've taken the potion?” Harry asked. “If you're found out to be a spy...”

“That is not something that you need to be concerned about,” Snape said and stood up. “That potion can literally destroy your mind. I have seen better attempts of blocking people out from a child half your age,” the professor said and Harry glared, opening his mouth to say something but Snape cut him off. “I am also refusing to give you the potion because of the unknown effect it will have on Draco, who is also connected to your mind,” Snape pointed out and watched Harry sink back in his seat.

Blaise frowned looking at Harry, then up at his potions professor. “Okay, so you're not going to give Harry the potion. And no more Occlumency lessons. Why tell us any of this?”

“Because Potter has a bad habit of running head first into danger when he has not been given all the information about a situation,” Snape said and noticed that Harry at least looked a little embarrassed about that. “Perhaps if he is given information he will actually think before doing something stupid that will inevitably get all three of you killed.”

“You make it sound like I actually go looking for trouble,” Harry snapped.

Blaise put a hand on Harry's head. “Not always, but you do seem to just rush into things.”

Harry huffed and pushed Blaise's hand away. “Fine. Think before I act; got it,” he said and looked up at Snape. “Any more words of wisdom you wish to bestow upon me?” he asked with a cheeky grin and Snape narrowed his eyes, as he was reminded why he didn't actually like this boy; Harry really did remind him a lot of James. But as he looked at the boy, for the first time Snape was actually able to see the ghost of Lily there as well, and it was that that kept him from hexing the boy's mouth shut.

“No, you may leave," Snape agreed in clipped tones. "However, Draco, if you and Mr. Zabini could wait outside, there is one more thing I wish to discuss with Mr. Potter,” he said, looking at his Godson. Draco frowned and stood up.

“What do you need to talk to him about that we need to leave the room for?” Blaise asked, also standing up, and although he didn't seem as hostile to the potions professor as he had when entering the room, he was still on edge.

“You may stay," Snape agreed, realising that the two Slytherin teens still did not trust Harry in his care. "However, I doubt that he will talk very much about the memories I saw during the last Occlumency lesson with you two in the room,” Snape said, his eyes once again settling on Harry, who had gone pale.

“Th-there's nothing to talk about,” Harry said quickly, as he too stood up.

“I believe there is a lot to talk about,” Snape said. “If you do not talk about it now, we will talk later.” Snape watched as Harry shifted a little closer to Draco, his hand reaching out and taking hold of the blond's. Draco squeezed his hand reassuringly, before looking back at Snape.

“He doesn't want to talk right now.” Draco narrowed his eyes at Snape leaving no room for any argument. Snape sighed; he knew that this was going to be difficult, after all he had never given the boy a reason to trust him, and now he was telling him that he had to talk about memories that he obviously didn't want anyone to know about.

“Then I will speak with him later,” Snape insisted. 

Draco said nothing as he turned, still holding Harry's hand, and lead the smaller boy out of Snape's rooms. Blaise stayed for a moment longer, glaring at Snape, before he followed the other two out. 

He couldn't be mad at Snape for wanting Harry to talk about the obvious abuse, because even he had to agree that Harry needed to talk about it. And there was a surprising lack of adults in the small boy's life who not only would listen but might be able to do something about it. However, Blaise decided he would leave this problem to Draco, as the blond was able to understand Harry better in this situation and so was best suited to deal with it.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 19

Classes had finally started again for the three boys and Harry was finding it a lot easier to keep up with his school work when he was the only one in the class. The only exception to this, however, was potions. Harry had wanted to avoid Snape for as long as possible, but that was difficult to do since there was no way for Harry to just skip potions.

Draco had made good on his promise and went with Harry to each potions lesson but it hadn't been necessary at all. Snape was much the same as he ever was, no better but no worse, and he never mentioned Harry's abuse during any of the lessons, which was something Harry was grateful for. Though he didn't dare hope that Snape had truly let it go; the potions master was most likely waiting for the right moment to bring it up again. And, as February approached, and the deadline for the potion came and went, Harry was sure that Snape had other things on his mind, other than how Harry was treated at home.

The first weekend in February had Harry, Blaise and Draco making their way up to Dumbledore's office, after receiving a letter from the Headmaster while they had been eating breakfast. Draco didn't want to go, but he had no real reason to avoid the Headmaster, he just didn't trust the older Wizard.

"It's really not that bad, Draco," Harry said, looking at the blond boy as they made their way up the spiral staircase.

"For you maybe, but I've told you before, I don't trust Dumbledore," Draco replied, narrowing his eyes slightly at the entrance to Dumbledore's office. Harry just sighed, shaking his head before giving the password; he glanced at Blaise and Draco before stepping on the spiral staircase as it moved upwards.

Blaise had been quiet the whole walk there. He agreed with Draco about not trusting Dumbledore, but was also on Harry's side, the Headmaster wasn't all that bad. But Blaise thought that perhaps Dumbledore was trying to control far too many people. So for now the tan boy didn't say anything. He would just watch for now and see how things worked out.

\--------x

Dumbledore sat in his office thinking over the recent events, something he had been doing a lot of as of late. He was trying to think of a plan that wouldn't immediately put Harry in danger, but would also allow Snape to continue his role as a spy; it was a lot harder than it sounded. But after nearly a month, he had finally thought of something that he believed would cause the least amount of damage.

It would, of course, still put Snape in danger, and the potions master would have to agree to the plan in order for this to work. Dumbledore was counting on Snape agreeing to the first plan, because if he didn't then Harry would have to be given the potion. Dumbledore had managed to get hold of the potion that Snape had been brewing and would give it to the boy himself, something that Dumbledore really did not want to do but he would do it if it meant that he could still have a spy in Voldemort's inner circle.

Dumbledore looked over at his door when he heard the knock and smiled. "Please come in," he said and watched as the door was pushed open, Harry stepping into the office first, Blaise and Draco right behind him. "Harry my boy, I see that you got my invitation. Please sit down." Dumbledore smiled at the small boy as Harry took a seat; Draco and Blaise, however, remained standing by the door. Dumbledore smiled at them as well. "There is a lot to discuss today, I think you may be more comfortable if you were to sit down for this discussion." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and Draco narrowed his eyes at the Headmaster.

"Why did you call us up here?" Draco demanded to know.

Dumbledore just continued to smile at the blond boy. "You are a lot like your Godfather, he never seems to have time to sit and have a cup of tea." Dumbledore leaned back in his chair waving his wand and watched as a tray of tea and biscuits appeared. "We are just waiting for Severus to join us, then we will begin our discussion. In the meantime, please help yourself to some tea,” the Headmaster offered and Harry smiled widely before starting to make himself a cup.

“Thank you, sir,” Harry said once he had his cup of tea, then looked over his shoulder again at Blaise and Draco. The other two boys had moved away from the door, but still made no move to sit down. Harry frowned at the both of them, but said nothing as he sipped at his tea and grabbed a biscuit to nibble on while they waited for Snape.

“How have you three been adjusting to this bond?” Dumbledore asked, breaking the silence. “You seem to have gotten closer in the past few months.”

Harry nodded his head. “Yes sir, things are getting better. At least, we've all stopped fighting,” Harry said, taking another biscuit from the tray.

“That is good to hear.” Dumbledore then looked at Blaise and Draco. “And how are you two settling? I know things were a little difficult on you at first, Mr. Malfoy.”

Draco raised an eyebrow at the Headmaster, who just smiled back in return, his blue eyes still twinkling. “Harry just answered that question,” was all the blond boy said, turning his attention away from Dumbledore and Harry looked over at Draco to give him an exasperated glare.

“I think things are about as good as they're going to be for now,” Blaise answered before Harry could chastise the blond for his bluntness, not wanting the Headmaster to see them in conflict and Dumbledore just nodded his head again.

There was a knock on the door and the Headmaster called for them to enter. Draco looked over when Snape came into the room, and the potions master paused only for a moment when he saw the three boys in the Headmaster's office. He closed the door behind him and looked at Dumbledore.

“Severus, right on time.” Dumbledore smiled at him. “Please, help yourself to some tea,” he offered already knowing that Snape would ignore the tea.

“I was under the impression that I was called up here for something important, not a tea party.” Snape narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Harry at least knows how to humor an old man.” Dumbledore smiled at Harry, who had finished his cup of tea and was starting on his third biscuit, before looking back up at the potions master. “Very well straight to business,” the old wizard said, looking at each person in the room.

“As of right now, you are all aware of the connection that Harry shares with Voldemort," the Headmaster told them, Harry and Blaise both nodded but neither Snape or Draco felt the need to confirm something they all knew. "That connection has given Voldemort knowledge about the bond that Harry shares with Mr. Malfoy.” Dumbledore paused looking at Harry and Draco. “You are also aware of the potion that Severus was ordered to brew and give to Harry.”

“Harry's not taking the potion,” Draco insisted harshly.

“No, I don't believe it will be necessary," Dumbledore agreed, hoping that it really wouldn't come to that. "But it has presented a very serious problem for us. If Severus does not give Harry the potion, then Voldemort will know for certain that Severus is the spy and kill him.”

“You are stalling, old man, just say what it is you want me to do,” Snape demanded; he was far too used to Dumbledore putting him in dangerous situations, and he thought that right now it was pointless to try and sugar coat anything for the benefit of the three children in the room.

Dumbledore looked at Snape and nodded. “Very well then, I suggest that you, Severus, go and speak with Voldemort, and inform him of the bond that Harry has formed with your godson.” The potions master showed no outward reaction and simply waited to see if Dumbledore had any more to add.

Harry, however, jumped to his feet. “You can't do that!” he said looking at Snape, then to Dumbledore. “If you send Snape there, Voldemort will kill him for not giving me the potion! And even if he doesn't kill him, telling Voldemort about the bond is only going to get other people hurt.” Harry did his best not to shout at the Headmaster, though his voice had grown in volume the more he spoke.

A hand on his shoulder had Harry turning quickly to look at Blaise, who had come over to stand next to him. Harry frowned in confusion; it hadn't felt as if his magic were slipping out of his control yet, but maybe Blaise was just making sure it didn't get that far.

“I think,” Draco said then, “we will get a little bit more of an explanation if you allow the Headmaster to continue.” Draco also came to stand next to Harry, an arm slipping around the smaller boy's waist. Harry blushed slightly before nodding and looking back at Dumbledore.

“I'm sorry, sir...”

“That is quite alright, my boy. You have every right to demand an explanation," the Headmaster told him. "It is my belief that if Snape informs Voldemort about the bond, and expresses concern about what effect the potion may have on Mr. Malfoy, Voldemort may not demand that you be given the potion after all,” Dumbledore said. Harry could only frown as he thought that over.

“You could be putting all three boys in even more danger,” Snape pointed out, disregarding what kind of danger he would be put in if he went through with this plan at all.

Dumbledore sighed and nodded. “I know, that is why I wanted all of you here. This is something that will affect all of you, but it is the best plan that I can think of that will do the least amount of damage. Unless Harry agrees to take the potion himself.” Dumbledore looked at the small boy in front of his desk.

“I already told you he's not taking it!” Draco snapped stepping around Harry, blocking the smaller boy from the Headmaster; Harry frowned, looking at the blond boy in front of him.

“Draco, I'm not going to take the potion. I already said I wouldn't,” Harry reminded him, then turned his attention towards Snape who was just watching everyone. “Do you think it will work? Telling Voldemort about the bond?” Harry asked the potions master. Snape raised an eyebrow at the small boy.

“I think that it may be the best plan we have at the moment," the potions master reluctantly agreed, a little surprised to have been asked. "And there isn't a lot of time to really think of a different one. However, I will not tell him about the bond unless all three of you agree on it,” Snape insisted, looking from Harry to Draco.

“And what if he orders you to give Harry the potion anyway?” Draco asked narrowing his eyes at his Godfather.

“Then we will think of another plan then,” Snape informed him.

“Perhaps,” Dumbledore started, “if you three go and discuss it for today, and when you have decided what you want to do, just inform Professor Snape.”

Draco glared at the Headmaster. “Not a lot of choices,” he snapped. “Either tell the Dark Lord about the bond, make Harry take the potion, or sit around and hope for the best.” Draco was getting frustrated with the situation.

“Draco,” Snape snapped. “Not everyone has the luxury of having choices like this. They may not be what you are used to, but this is a war, and not everyone is going to come away unhurt. I refuse to give Potter that potion, and so that leaves very few options for me; besides, the Dark Lord is going to find out about the bond one way or another.” Snape wanted to make Draco realise that there were more people at risk of being hurt then just him. “If I am the one to tell the Dark Lord about the bond, it is possible that I may survive this.”

Draco went pale as he stared at his godfather. “You can't ask me to choose something like that!”

“You do not have to make the choice,” Snape said. “All I need to know is if you object to me telling the Dark Lord about the connection you share with Potter. I will do the rest,” Snape informed him and Draco looked torn. He didn't want Voldemort to know about the bond, but it was information that might save Snape's life. He wasn't a fool, he knew that hiding from Voldemort was impossible to do, the Dark wizard would eventually catch up and kill the person he was hunting for.

“Fine,” Draco finally said before turning and storming out of the office. This bond was turning out to be a lot more than he bargained for; something that he had originally thought would keep both him and Blaise safe was turning out to put both of them even closer to danger. Hearing footsteps behind him, Draco paused at the end of the hallway and glanced over his shoulder to see Harry hurrying towards him.

“Where's Blaise?” Draco asked, looking over Harry's head towards the gargoyle.

“He said he had to stay and talk with Dumbledore. I wanted to come see if you were okay,” Harry said looking up at the blond.

“I just practically sent my Godfather to his death, how could I possibly be okay?” Draco snapped glaring down at Harry. The smaller boy flinched slightly, though he tried to hide it.

Draco sighed closing his eyes. “Look, Harry, I'm probably not the best person to be around at the moment.” Draco didn't want to take his anger out on Harry, he had done that enough already when they were first bonded.

“You shouldn't be alone right now,” Harry insisted. “Dumbledore says that just because we gave permission, doesn't mean it's our fault if Snape gets hurt.”

Draco huffed, looking at Harry again. “You don't actually believe that.”

Giving Draco a small smile, Harry shook his head. “No, of course not. I'm Harry Potter, remember? In the end everything is my fault,” Harry said with a small shrug. “I don't want Snape to go, I mean, it's no secret that we hate each other, but I don't want him killed. And I've already seen far too many people tortured, I'd rather not see that again either,” he added, trying to hide the shudder that ran through his body upon remembering Snape being tortured.

Draco frowned looking down at Harry. “How do you do it? How do you see all that and still remain sane and act so normal?”

“I'm far from normal, you've said it yourself, my head is a crazy place,” Harry pointed out and Draco couldn't help but smile.

“It is crazy, always going in circles,” Draco said. “But there's got to be something...”

“I try to distance myself from it,” Harry said softly. “I know some day it's all going to catch up to me and I'm just going to go completely insane. But for now, I just distance myself from everything, I've had a lot of practice with it.”

Draco didn't know what to say to that; it wasn't healthy for Harry to distance himself so much from everything but he also understood that it was sometimes the only way to defend yourself. Draco reached out without really realising what he was doing, he pulled Harry into a hug. The small body went stiff in his arms, but Draco didn't let go. Harry relaxed a little bit, though his muscles were still tense as Draco held him.

“As long as you never go as crazy as Mad-Eye Moody, I think we can deal with you being a little insane,” Draco said letting Harry go.

Harry stared up at Draco before he started laughing. “I don't think I can promise that. I'm bound to go crazy with so many people poking around in my head so often.” Harry chuckled again.

“Well, we now know that I can use my Occlumency to shield your mind as well as my own. So that should help,” Draco pointed out.

Harry grinned widely and nodded. “Draco Malfoy, my hero,” Harry said and laughed harder at the look that Draco gave him.

“That just sounds wrong coming from you,” the blond said, watching as Harry continued laughing. “I'm glad you find me so funny.” Draco huffed. “Well you can stay here and laugh, I'm going back to our rooms,” he said and turned and started walking away, Draco smiled when the smaller boy stopped laughing and hurried to follow him. Both of them were quiet as they walked back to their rooms.

\---------------------------x

Blaise watched as Draco and Harry left the Headmaster's office, and waited until Snape had also excused himself. The tan boy then turned to face Dumbledore, who was smiling at him.

“Was there something else you wished to discuss, Mr. Zabini?” Dumbledore asked.

“I wanted to talk about where Harry will be staying this summer,” Blaise informed the older wizard, frowning when Dumbledore closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh.

“I was wondering when this would be brought up again.” Dumbledore stood up moving to stand by the window, looking out onto the grounds of Hogwarts. “You of course remember what I told you back in October?”

Blaise narrowed his eyes at the Headmaster. “Yes sir, I do remember. But with the bond, if something happens to Harry, if Draco and I aren't there, Harry could really hurt himself, or someone else.”

Dumbledore sighed again. “I can understand that you are concerned for Harry, but I also hope that you understand that with Voldemort after Harry, the safest place for him is with his relatives.” Dumbledore turned back around to face Blaise, who was now glaring at the Headmaster.

“No,” Blaise said firmly. “Harry is not going back there. I don't care what wards you have around that house, they may protect him from people on the outside, but they are doing no good at protecting him from people on the inside!” Blaise had to force himself not to shout at the Headmaster. Even if Harry was being kept safe from Voldemort, it was no excuse to keep sending a child back to an abusive home.

“I do understand your concern, Mr. Zabini, and I am currently doing everything in my power to make other arrangements. But I still believe that Harry will be safer with his relatives,” Dumbledore insisted.

“He's not,” Blaise said as he glared at the Headmaster, wanting to make it very clear to the old man that this wasn’t something up for debate.

Dumbledore sighed. “I am doing what I believe is best,” the Headmaster said.

“And I'm doing what's best for Harry,” Blaise said firmly. “If these 'other arrangements' are still going to put Harry in danger, I'm taking him with me this summer,” Blaise told him.

“I am glad to see that you are so fiercely protective of Harry,” Dumbledore said smiling at the younger wizard.

“I'll protect him from anyone I think is a danger to him.” Blaise gave the Headmaster a knowing look. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to catch up to Harry and Draco,” Blaise said and left the office. He didn't like that Dumbledore was trying to mess around with Harry's life so much. He didn't believe that Dumbledore was as bad as Draco thought he was, but Blaise didn't like how much influence the old man had on Harry's life. Letting out a small sigh, Blaise went straight back to the rooms he shared with Harry and Draco. He was fairly sure that's where they would have gone.

When Blaise made it back to the common room, he was a little surprised to find Draco sitting on the sofa, with Harry laying down taking up the rest of the space, the small boy's head resting in Draco's lap. From where he was standing, Harry seemed to be asleep.

“He alright?” Blaise asked quietly as he walked over to the two boys.

Draco nodded. “He had a headache coming on, so I made him take a potion for it.”

“Under protest,” Harry said, opening his eyes to look up at Blaise, giving the tan boy a small smile.

“Better to take a potion now, instead of waiting until the headache is worse,” Draco said running his fingers soothingly through Harry's hair, smiling when he felt Harry leaning further into the touch.

“I still don't like the taste though.” Harry made a face and Blaise chuckled. Harry turned his attention back to Blaise and grinned. “So what did you have to stay and talk to Dumbledore about?”

“About where you are staying this summer,” Blaise informed him, earning a confused look from Harry, and a questioning one from Draco. “We can talk about it later, but I really didn't like the idea of you going back to your relatives,” Blaise admitted and Harry sat up, avoiding looking at tan boy.

“It's not that bad if I have to go back, I won't really mind,” Harry said, though in truth he did mind very much. Harry didn't want to go back, but past experiences proved that it would be worse to get his hopes up, only to be let down again.

“We mind though.” Blaise said frowning when Harry still didn't look at either of them. “I don't understand how you can be so willing to go back there.” It wasn't that Blaise wasn’t trying to understand, but he just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Harry would still want to go back to people that mistreated him.

“It's easier for everyone if I just go back,” Harry said softly.

“How is it easier?” Blaise asked in frustration, watching as Harry stood up.

“I'm going to the kitchens to get our dinner,” Harry said, still avoiding looking at both boys he moved passed Draco and Blaise, only to have his arm grabbed by the tan boy.

“Harry, why won't you talk about this?” Blaise asked. “If not with me, then with Draco, or your Godfather, or even Snape.”

“Because there is nothing to talk about!” Harry snapped angrily, turning to face the Italian boy. “Yeah, maybe I got banged around a bit more than most other kids, maybe it left a few scars, but it doesn't matter. There are other things to be worrying about right now, like the fact that Voldemort is going to know nearly everything about the bond by tomorrow,” Harry said, pulling his arm free from Blaise and leaving the common room.

Blaise moved to go after him, but was stopped by Draco. “What the hell was that?” Draco questioned also sounding angry at his boyfriend. Blaise turned and looked at Draco, confused where the sudden anger had come from. Draco narrowed his eyes at Blaise. “Why would you choose now of all times to bring that up?”

“Because Harry can't be allowed to go back to those muggles. You know that as well as I do,” Blaise said.

“That's not what I'm talking about,” Draco hissed. “I'm with Harry on this one; there is more than enough for us to be worrying about at the moment. Between worrying about the bond and what the Dark Lord is going to do when he finds out everything, the fact that I may never see my godfather alive again, and my mother in hiding, using Harry's abuse as a distraction from all that is NOT helping!” Draco was doing his best not to raise his voice, while also keeping his own mind blocked partly from Harry's, the last thing that the other boy needed was to feel Draco's anger at the moment.

“I wasn't using it as a distraction.” Blaise glared back at Draco.

“So you were just adding onto everything else he has to be worried about?” Draco crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn't figure out why Blaise would have started questioning Harry now; it had been a month since anyone had spoken to Harry about the abuse, for it to be brought up all of a sudden was confusing even for Draco.

“I'm trying to do the best I can to help Harry!” Blaise snapped, his own anger rising. “Is it really all that bad that I want him to know he can rely on me a little bit? I want to help him, and not just be there to stop his magic from going out of control. I want him to talk to me more, instead of running straight to you whenever there's a problem. Before you opened the bond I felt like I was actually able to be useful,” Blaise said and Draco's eyes widened.

“You're jealous,” Draco said catching Blaise off guard.

“I'm not!” Blaise denied fervently.

Draco shook his head. “No, you are, you're actually jealous of Harry,” Draco said, but frowned when that didn't really sound right. The way Blaise had been wording things, it didn't sound like the tan boy was jealous of Harry at all. “Or is it me that you're jealous of?” Draco asked, narrowing his eyes at Blaise.

“I told you, I'm not jealous. I just want to help Harry-”

“Harry, Harry, Harry. Everything is about Harry again!” Draco shouted and Blaise stared at the blond in shock. “Harry may have been the one to start this bond between us, but he is not the only person here!” Draco could feel his chest tighten with conflicting emotions, and for a moment he feared that he had let his shield drop, and that Harry was picking up backlash from this. He would have to worry about that later though.

“I know that Harry isn't the only one here. But yes, everything is about Harry right now.” Blaise regretted his choice of words almost instantly when he saw Draco go pale.

The blond boy nodded slowly. “That's how it is then. Maybe I was stupid to think we could still have a relationship, even with the bond,” Draco said coldly.

“We can still have a relationship, Draco, we just have to work through things...” Blaise said, not liking where this argument had sudden turned.

“No, everything is about Harry now.” Draco sounded bitter when he said this, and without another word he turned and left the common room, heading down the hall and locking himself in his and Blaise's room. He put up a silencing charm just in case Blaise tried to follow him. 

Not caring any more if Harry was picking anything up from him or not, Draco sank to the floor, allowing a few tears to roll down his cheeks. Draco tried to bring up some of the old anger he had towards Harry, tried to tell himself that this was Harry's fault, but he couldn't; blaming Harry for what Blaise had said would just be cruel and untrue. Draco had seen for himself, had seen Harry push himself away from Blaise whenever the smaller boy thought that Draco might have become jealous of how close they were.

Draco wasn’t sure how it had come to this; how, despite all their best efforts, things between him and Blaise had become so fractured anyway. Draco wasn’t sure how to make things better but he just wanted his boyfriend back, he wanted to be Blaise’s priority; he wanted them to be united so that they could protect Harry together.

\---------------------------x

Snape had returned to his own room after leaving the Headmaster’s office. He was now standing in front of his fireplace, scowling, as he thought of what he was about to do, but if there was one thing that being a spy had taught him, it was to always have a backup plan, because just hoping that things would turn out for the best was foolish.

Snape had never been the kind of person to believe in false hope anyway. Maybe at one point he had believed that, despite everything, things would turn out alright in the end, but reality was cruel and nothing was ever 'alright'; it was a lesson Snape had learned more than he would care to admit. It was because of this that he had decided that he had to talk with Black and Lupin. If he did not return from meeting with the Dark Lord, then someone would have to make sure that not only Harry, but Draco and Blaise, would also be safe. And at the moment, the best option for that was the person who had already asked Snape for help.

The potions master grabbed the floo powder and threw it into the fire before he could change his mind, he couldn't waste to much time on this as there were other things he needed to do before he went to speak with Voldemort.

Poking his head into the emerald flames and calling out the address, he soon found himself peering into dreary kitchen of Grimmauld Place. He spotted the man he was looking for, sitting at the table with what looked to be an empty fire whiskey bottle. “This is a good example as to why you are useless to the Order,” Snape sneered at the other man, watching as Sirius jumped in surprise knocking the bottle off the table.

“What the hell do you want?” Sirius growled narrowing his eyes at Snape.

“To talk about what you requested of me in December. However, I can see that you are busy at the moment,” Snape said looking to where the empty bottle had landed on the floor. 

Sirius sank down onto the floor, now kneeling in front of the fireplace. “Are you actually going to help me?” Sirius asked in disbelief.

“I am starting to rethink my decision,” Snape narrowed his eyes. “However, if I do help you, I have a few conditions of my own.”

“You Slytherins and your bargaining. Fine, what are your conditions?” Sirius asked having already come to the conclusion that Snape would not help him for free. And Sirius didn't care what Snape asked him to do, if it got Harry to safety, he would do it.

“If I help you get Potter away from here, you must take Draco with you as well. And it would be wise to also bring Zabini along, as Potter's magic is too unstable without him,” Snape said watching as the other man's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“That's it? That's the condition?” Sirius laughed ignoring the glare that Snape was giving him now. “I was already preparing for the fact that neither of those two would have let me just take Harry away,” Sirius informed the potions master. “Is there anything else?”

“No, that is my only condition,” Snape said before passing a small box through the fire for Sirius to take. “This is a portkey that will take you to the safe house I have set up. If I have not contacted you in three days, use it to get to the safe house, the boys will meet you there. The password to activate the portkey is written on the inside,” Snape informed him and waited until Sirius had nodded his understanding.

“Why three days though?” Sirius asked frowning when Snape didn't answer him and instead vanished from the fireplace.

Snape pulled back out of the fire and stood up before dusting himself off. That was one problem taken care of, he now had to talk with Draco and make sure his godson was prepared as well.

Snape left his rooms, quickly and quietly making his way up the stairs, only to stop near the top of them when he saw the door to the kitchen open and watched as Harry came out, the small boy's arms full of food, and even more seemed to be piled in a basket that he had hooked over his arm.

“I was unaware that the kitchens were now open for students,” Snape said as he walked up the last few steps, watching with satisfaction as Harry jumped in surprise. Spinning around to face his potions teacher.

“Snape,” Harry said his eyes wide looking up at the professor. “I thought you had already left.”

Snape raised an eyebrow at Harry. “So you thought now would be the best time to sneak in and steal food from the kitchens.”

“I wasn't stealing, the house elves gave me this. Besides, they would have brought dinner to my rooms anyway,” Harry pointed out. “I was just making less work for them.”

“How noble of you, Potter.” Snape sneered down at Harry and bright green eyes glared right back up at him for a moment, before those eyes softened slightly and Harry looked away, breaking eye contact with his professor.

“You are going to be okay, aren't you? Draco will be really upset if you don't come back,” Harry asked and Snape was once again struck by how strange it was to hear concern coming from the small boy. It was almost infuriating to see this boy worry himself about how everyone else was doing, and being willing to put himself in danger if it would save another life, and yet, when it came to his own problems, Snape had seen Harry run away repeatedly. It was time to put a stop to that.

"I will be coming back because you and I are going to discuss those atrocious relatives of yours." Snape saw Harry's whole body tense up and the green eyes widen once again as Harry's head snapped back up to look at his teacher.

“There's nothing-”

“There is plenty to talk about, Potter,” Snape interrupted him. “I have let things slide long enough, and when I get back, we are going to talk.”

“I don't want to talk to you,” Harry snapped.

“Then I shall have your godfather come here, and you can talk to him.” Snape watched as Harry shook his head quickly.

“No, I'm not talking to anyone about this. I don't need to talk to anyone. It's bad enough that you saw it!” Harry shouted.

Snape just continued staring down at the angry boy. “Yes, I saw it. I saw everything you showed me, Potter. Do not interrupt me,” Snape said holding a hand up when it looked like Harry was going to start talking. “I am only going to say this once, so listen carefully. The fact that you have been forced to live in a situation like that, and that no one has noticed the obvious signs of abuse-”

“It's not abuse!” Harry snapped and Snape narrowed his eyes.

“It is abuse. Deny it all you want, Potter, but your relatives have abused you, and we will discuss this in depth when I return,” Snape insisted.

“Why do you even care? You hate me, you've always hated me, and I don't care for you either.” Harry was shaking, and he wasn't sure if it was from his magic building up, or the over whelming emotions that were running through him.

“I do not hate you, Potter, I dislike your attitude, but I do not hate you.” Snape insisted. “Now I suggest you go back to your rooms and find Mr. Zabini,” Snape said, as he could practically feel Harry's magic pulsing in the air. “We will talk further when I return, and I suggest you have Draco make sure that your mind is shielded from the Dark Lord today.”

Harry nodded his head slowly; he didn't want to talk with Snape when the potions master returned, but he could feel his magic building up and knew that if he didn't get back to Blaise right now, he might ending up hurting someone. With one more look at his teacher, Harry turned away quickly and practically ran back to his rooms cursing Snape the whole way.

TBC  
So here is chapter 19! I hope you like it, I only have a few more chapters to go now! I know roughly the rest of the plot of this, and I am estimating 6-8 more chapters. My goal is to have this fic wrapped up by Christmas. So we will see if I can stick to that goal. Wish me luck! Also feel free to look me up on facebook under Celtic Kitsune.


	20. Chapter 20

Okay, well I wasn't going to post this, I was actually going to sit on this chapter for a couple more weeks before posting it. But chapter 21 is about half way finished now already. Here is a special treat!

Thanks to BickyMonster for beta reading this for me! You are totally awesome

Unwanted Bonds

Chapter 20

 

Hermione let out a small sigh as she sat down in her favorite spot in the library. She had been coming there a lot recently, as trying to study in Gryffindor Tower had become nearly impossible. The tower had always been a loud place but it seemed to be a lot worse this year. Not only was there the normal rowdiness of the other students, but there had been a few fights that had broken out as well, people defending Harry, and others who were convinced that Harry was on his way to becoming the next Dark Lord.

 

One thing Hermione had noticed, however, was how Ron had been staying out of most of those fights recently. The red-head had also been looking tired and pale but, try as she might, Hermione had been unable to get a moment alone with him.

 

“Looks like someone is thinking too hard.” Hermione looked up quickly and sighed when she saw Fred pulling out a chair to sit down across from her. She looked past him expecting to see George with him as well. “George had some things to take care of,” Fred told her with a smile.

 

“What things?” Hermione asked.

 

“Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about.” Fred grinned at the suspicious look Hermione was now giving him.

 

“How much trouble is he causing then?” Hermione questioned with fond exasperation.

 

“No trouble yet, he wouldn't cause any trouble without me,” Fred said seriously and Hermione could only shake her head at him.

 

“Okay, then why are you here?” she asked, even though she had been spending more time with the twins than anyone else in Gryffindor lately, it was a little strange for one of them to seek her out personally.

 

Fred let his smile fall and he leaned back in his seat looking up at the ceiling. “Honestly, I was hoping to talk to you about something. See what you think about what me and George found out yesterday.”

 

Hermione gave him a curious look. “About what?”

 

“Well, you know Colin Creevey, that kid with the camera that was always following Harry around?” Fred asked, looking more serious then Hermione had ever seen him. She nodded her head once and waited for Fred to continue. “Well, he came to me and George yesterday. He said that he overheard someone talking, said that someone was targeting Harry again.”

 

“We already know that though, there are quite a few people in Gryffindor right now who are after Harry,” Hermione reminded him.

 

Fred sighed and nodded. “That's what I said too, but it got me and George thinking. It's mostly Gryffindor's that are out to hurt Harry this time, which is a bit backwards when you really think about it. Normally it's the rest of the school that turns on him first,” Fred pointed out and Hermione's frown deepened as she thought about that.

 

“I haven't heard of anyone else looking for Harry...” she said slowly, though looking quite baffled by that revelation.

 

“No one else in any of the other houses, besides Slytherin that is, have actively gone looking for Harry to hurt him,” Fred told her, him and George having reached the same conclusion. “And even then, most of the Slytherins have left Harry alone since he has that bond thing with Zabini and Malfoy. So as far as George and I can tell, it's just Gryffindor that has a problem with Harry at the moment,” he added and watched with a small smile as Hermione mulled over this new information. He could practically see the thoughts going through her head, like she was putting together a puzzle that only she could see.

 

“I think we need to get Ron alone to talk,” she finally said and looked at Fred again, the red-head looking confused by what she had said.

 

“Why Ron?” he asked. “Other than the fact that he's the loudest about how Harry's gone dark.”

 

Hermione shook her head. “There's something not right going on, and I think Ron knows what it is. I've been trying to talk to him for weeks now, but I haven't managed to find a chance to get him alone.”

 

Fred grinned. “Leave that to me. It might take a couple days, but I think George and I can handle getting Ron alone. One of us will come and find you when we've got him,” Fred promised and Hermione nodded; it was the best she could hope for. And now she was hopeful that maybe, in a few days, she would be able to find out exactly what was wrong with Ron.

 

\---------------------x

 

Blaise stood up quickly when Harry ran into the room and dropped the food onto the table. “Harry?” Blaise asked, letting out a small 'oof' when he suddenly found Harry in his arms. The smaller boy was shaking and it didn't take long for Blaise to notice that Harry's magic was barely being held back.

 

“Harry? What happened?” Blaise asked in concern, while he wrapped his arms around the trembling body, holding Harry closer to him. Harry only shook his head, burring his face against Blaise's chest as his magic was slowly calmed by being close to his bondmate.

 

Blaise silently held Harry for a few moments, until he was sure that Harry's magic was a little more stable. “Harry, I'm sorry I tried to push you into talking about your relatives,” Blaise said, feeling Harry tense up and felt the smaller boy's magic spike dangerously again.

 

“Blaise, I don't want to talk about it,” Harry said softly. “Please, I don't want to talk about it.”

 

“You need to talk about it at some point, Harry...” Blaise tried to say, but Harry cut him off by shoving him away violently.

 

“No! Just stop it! Why can't anybody understand! I don't want to talk!” Harry could still feel his magic rising again and Blaise took half a step forward to help him, but the small boy backed away even further.

 

“Harry, I'm not going to make you talk about it. I think you should talk about it at some point, and get some help, but it doesn't have to be right now. I'm sorry for pushing you about it,” Blaise said trying to get Harry to calm down, but every time he moved forward Harry would move back another step.

 

“Harry,” Draco said from the hallway and the black haired boy looked over at him. “You need to relax; let Blaise help you ease your magic back down before you hurt yourself.” Draco's voice was calm, however, Harry could feel all too clearly that Draco was anything but calm.

 

“I'm sorry...” Harry said softly, looking from Draco, to Blaise, who took a few steps closer to Harry; satisfied that the smaller boy wasn't going to back away any more, Blaise wrapped his arms around Harry again.

 

Harry stood there and allowed Blaise to hold him, but he didn't hold the other boy back, he was too focused on Draco at the moment. The icy grey eyes were watching them closely. When Harry felt that he could control his own magic without the help of Blaise, he pulled away slowly. “Thank you,” he said, glancing up at Blaise and the tan boy smiled down at him.

 

“Any time, Harry. Do you want to tell us what caused you to lose control?” he asked and Harry shook his head.

 

“No, not really.” Harry looked from Blaise over to Draco. “Are you okay?” he asked and Draco blinked at him.

 

“Shouldn't I be asking you that question?” Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry before glancing at Blaise for a moment and sighing. “I'm fine,” the blond said turning to head back down the hallway. Harry felt the mental wall go up between him and Draco, and his feet were moving before he could stop himself.

 

“Draco, wait.” Harry hurried down the hall after him, leaving Blaise alone in the common room once again. Harry didn't expect Draco to actually stop and wait for him, but the blond boy did.

 

“What?” Draco asked not looking at Harry, and the green eyed boy was surprised at how much that hurt. He started thinking quickly about what he could have done to upset Draco. “I'm not mad at you,” Draco said, glancing over his shoulder to look at Harry now. “Really, you project your emotions so loudly, it reminds me why I was using occlumency against you.” Draco turned and walked into his room.

 

Harry frowned at that but quickly followed him again, moving passed Draco and into the bedroom just before the blond had a chance to close and lock the door.

 

“Harry,” Draco said with frustration when he realised he wasn’t alone, “I said it earlier; I'm really not going to be great company for a while.”

 

“I'm sorry,” Harry said quickly and Draco raised an eyebrow at him, opening his mouth to ask why Harry was apologising, but Harry cut him off and continued. “I don't know what I did to upset you this time, but I'm sorry. If you're upset about Snape, I'm sorry about that as well, or if it's because Blaise hugged me, or because I won't talk about my relatives, or if it's just the bond in general…” Draco pressed a hand over Harry's mouth stopping the other boy from talking.

 

“Stop talking for thirty seconds,” the blond told him firmly. “I'm not mad at YOU. I'm upset about quite a lot of things at the moment and I think I would much rather be alone with my thoughts right now,” Draco tried to explain, lowering his hand away from Harry's mouth.

 

“I just want to help,” Harry admitted. “I felt you blocking me, and I thought I upset you,” Harry said and Draco sighed running a hand through his hair.

 

“No, Harry, you're not the one who upset me. I blocked you because I'm upset and I didn't want you to feel any of it,” Draco explained as he moved and sat down on his bed.

 

Harry remained standing by the door for a moment; he had been nothing but a burden on both Draco and Blaise since this bond had started, but maybe he could be of some help now, if Draco accepted it. Moving so he was standing in front of Draco, he gave the blond a small smile. “I heard talking helps,” Harry said and Draco blinked up at him before chuckling at having his own words thrown back at him at a moment like this.

 

“Oh? And where did you hear something like that?” Draco questioned, causing Harry to smile wider.

 

“A know-it-all Slytherin told me.” Harry said and sat on the bed next to Draco.

 

“In that case, how about we make a trade?” Draco offered and Harry blinked at him in confusion. “I tell you one thing that is bothering me, and you tell me one thing that's bothering you.”

 

Harry frowned, not really fond of the idea. “You're the one that's upset at the moment,” Harry pointed out.

 

“And you were the one who just had their magic nearly explode again,” Draco said crossing his arms over his chest.

 

“Fine, but you go first,” Harry insisted, narrowing his eyes at Draco when the blond boy smirked.

 

“Deal,” Draco said before shifting back onto the bed and made himself comfortable up by the headboard while Harry moved to sit at the end of the bed so they were facing each other. Once the both of them were settled, Harry looked at Draco expectantly.

 

“You first,” Harry repeated and Draco nodded once.

 

“I guess the most obvious one is my Godfather. That is bothering me quite a bit at the moment,” Draco admitted.

 

“Snape said he was going to come back,” Harry said hoping that he might be able to get rid of some of Draco's worry about Snape.

 

Draco gave him a curious look. “When did he say that?” he asked, trying to recall if Snape had said it while in the Headmaster's office or not.

 

“When I ran into him, on my way back from the kitchens,” Harry admitted and Draco sat up a bit straighter. “Nothing happened,” Harry reassured Draco quickly. “Well... he scolded me for stealing food from the kitchens, and told me to make sure that you make sure that we have a strong shield on our minds today... but that's all that happened really.”

 

Draco sighed settling back down against the headboard. “I was already planning to do that.” Draco looked Harry over. “Nothing else happened? He just said he was going to be coming back?” Draco knew how much danger Snape was in by going to talk to the Dark Lord, and it didn't sound like his Godfather to promise to come back when his life could very well depend on if the Dark Lord was in a good or bad mood today.

 

Harry nodded his head slowly. “Yeah... he's been a spy for a very long time, so his chances are fairly good, I think.” Harry gave Draco a small smile and the blond nodded.

 

“I suppose that's true, though I'm still going to be worried about him until he comes back.” Draco sighed again. “Alright, your turn now, one thing that's bothering you.”

 

Harry bit his lip, there were so many things it was hard to pick just one. So he decided to stay on the topic of Snape. “He wants to talk to me about my relatives,” Harry admitted and avoided looking at Draco when he said this. “Snape I mean, he said he was going to be coming back, and that when he did we were going to talk about the Dursleys.”

 

“And you still don't want to talk about it?” Draco questioned, though Harry didn't really need to answer, because the blond could feel how reluctant Harry was to even mention it now. “I understand not wanting to talk about certain things, but Harry, at this point, I know, Snape knows, and even Blaise knows some of it. And your Godfather as well.”

 

“It doesn't matter how many people know Draco, the whole world could know, and I still wouldn't want to talk about it.” Harry sounded more bitter then angry when he said this.

 

“Why not?” Draco asked, he had been reluctant to speak of his own abuse at the hands of his father, but being confronted with it by his Godfather, Draco had found it a little bit easier to talk about it. However, Harry still seemed to be denying what those muggles had done to him.

 

“Because talking about it... admitting what they did...” Harry bit his lip wondering if he could say this much, but he had already started talking, so he may as well continue, “...it's admitting that they never really loved me. That no matter what I did, how hard I worked, I never meant anything to them.”

 

Draco looked at Harry with wide eyes. He had his own speculations on why Harry refused to talk about it, but to actually hear Harry's reason behind his refusal to admit to the abuse, it was shocking. “Harry...” Draco found himself at a loss for words. Was there really anything that could be said in reply to something like that; it wasn't an easy thing to admit, that your family didn't love you. Draco had it a little easier than Harry, because Draco still had his mother while Harry had no one.

 

“Your turn again.” Harry gave Draco a sad smile after the blond boy was silent.

 

“You know, Harry, you have other people that can love you. You don't need your relatives,” Draco said and Harry frowned at Draco. “You have your Godfather for one,” Draco said sitting up and moving down to the end of the bed to sit next to Harry. “And you have Blaise.”

 

“I don't have Blaise,” Harry protested, staring at Draco when the blond boy reached up and put a hand on his cheek.

 

“You do, you have Blaise, and you have me,” Draco said, not sure what had prompted him to lean in closer to Harry. He could see Harry's cheeks turn red, and he could feel Harry's breath on his own lips, giving Harry plenty of time to protest, or to pull away. When the smaller boy didn't move, Draco pressed his lips against Harry's, smiling against the other boy's mouth when he felt Harry lean up into the kiss and that was all the invitation that Draco needed as he deepened the kiss.

 

Harry was frozen his eyes impossibly wide as Draco kissed him, his heart was pounding and he was at a loss as to what he should do. Pushing Draco away crossed his mind, but as he reached up to do that, Harry felt Draco's tongue on his lips and gasped in surprise before the kiss was taken to a whole new level. Harry's eyes slid closed as he started losing himself in the kiss, then sensation of it was overwhelming, he could feel all of Draco's emotions, and Harry was sure that Draco could feel him just as well.

 

Harry felt himself falling and he reached out to grab onto the nearest thing, which happened to be Draco. But instead of pulling him closer, Harry gently pushed at the blond boy's shoulder forcing the other boy to break the kiss.

 

They pulled apart, both panting for breath. Wide green eyes locked with equally wide grey ones. “That...” Harry panted. “What was that?” Harry asked, his hand still on Draco's shoulder holding him away from him, but not letting him move away any further.

 

“Didn't you like it?” Draco asked with a smirk and Harry narrowed his eyes letting go of Draco's shoulder to push him away now.

 

“Don't toy with me, Malfoy!” Harry snapped as he sat up. “Why did you kiss me? You're dating Blaise! You love Blaise.”

 

Draco nodded. “I am dating Blaise, and yes, I do love him,” Draco said looking at Harry. “But I also care a lot about you-”

 

“You don't love me.” Harry shook his head in denial.

 

“No, it's not the same as I feel about Blaise, but I think it could still be classified as love,” Draco admitted even as Harry continued shaking his head slowly moving to get off the bed.

 

“How... you can't love me, you love Blaise,” Harry said again and Draco sighed standing up and grabbing Harry's hand before he could back away or try and leave the room.

 

“Harry, I do. And I think that Blaise might have feelings for you as well. If you think about it, is it really that surprising?” Draco sighed again when Harry just stared up at him. “If you can tell me, in all honesty that you don't have any feelings like that for me or Blaise, then I won't ever try and kiss you again,” Draco said, knowing full well what Harry had been feeling during the kiss. The overwhelming feeling of rightness, of belonging to someone, of having someone care, and the feeling of wanting more, of wanting more than just a one-time kiss, and the fear of ruining a good thing.

 

Harry chewed on his lower lip as he stared up at Draco. “I don't know what you want me to say,” Harry admitted and Draco nodded.

 

“Nothing right now.” Draco pulled Harry back towards the bed smiling when Harry tried to pull away from him. “I promise not to kiss you again.” Draco said. “But we were also in the middle of talking.”

 

Harry didn't know if he should be relieved or disappointment that Draco wouldn't try and kiss him again. Or maybe he should feel guilty because Blaise was out in the common room, and Harry was in here with Draco, had kissed Draco. It was only early afternoon, and Harry felt drained and tired. “I think I want to take a nap more then I want to continue talking,” Harry admitted.

 

“We can do that as well.” Draco lay down on the bed and pulled Harry with him, despite the protests from the smaller boy. “Harry, can you just stay with me a little longer?” Draco requested and smiled when Harry stopped struggling and settled down next to him. Neither of them spoke any more, both their minds occupied with other thoughts now. Harry was the first to fall asleep, and Draco removed the round glasses before settling down to get a nap as well.

 

\------------------------x

 

Voldemort sat in the high back chair, his hand slowly petting over Nagini's head as the large snake coiled around him and the chair. Red eyes narrowed into slits as he watched one of his loyal Death Eaters lead the potions master into the room.

 

“Leave us,” Voldemort hissed paying no more attention to the Death Eater that bowed out of the room, his full attention instead on the black haired man kneeling low in front of him. “I must say, this is a surprise, Severus,” the snake like man hissing out the potion masters name. “Am I correct in assuming that you have come here to give me an excuse as to why you have yet to give the potion to Potter?” Voldemort asked, his hand still stroking over Nagini slowly.

 

“I have no excuse, my lord,” Snape said evenly, keeping his head bowed. “Other than I have let my own personal feelings get in the way of the task you have given me.”

 

Voldemort looked curiously at his servant. “Explain,” he said, his hand moving from Nagini to rest over his wand instead.

 

“I was informed recently about a bond that has been formed between Potter and Draco, my Lord,” Snape said, keeping his answer short and to the point. “I was told that they share a mental bond, and I shamefully admit that I worried what effect the potion would have on Draco if it was given to Potter.” Snape didn't even chance looking up at Voldemort, though he kept still, waiting for the curse that he was sure would be coming.

 

“I see,” Voldemort hissed picking up his wand before standing up. “That information explains quite a lot of things. But what it does not explain, is why you have waited this long to tell me about this... bond.” Voldemort threw the curse at Snape, watching in satisfaction as the man writhed in pain on the floor.

 

Lifting the curse, he waited just long enough for Snape to get back into his kneeling position before hitting the man with the curse again. Three times he did this, until he allowed Snape to remain in his kneeling position on the floor.

 

“I suppose you are going to ask for forgiveness now,” Voldemort sneered.

 

“No, my Lord. I have not come to ask for forgiveness, I came to inform you of the bond, and to admit my own failure. I should have completed my task, regardless of my own personal feelings for my Godson,” Snape said, and was hit with the curse again. Voldemort didn't say anything when the curse was lifted, and Snape forced himself back into his kneeling position, never once lifting his head to look at Voldemort.

 

“As it turns out, I was already aware of the bond, Severus,” Voldemort said, watching with a small amount of joy as Snape's head lifted slightly before the man remembered himself and kept his head lowered in a bow. “Though I can understand your worry for young Draco. I would not want to cause him any harm that he does not deserve,” Voldemort said.

 

Snape remained silent, listening to the Dark Lord speak as the man moved about the room, slowly circling him while he remained kneeling on the floor.

 

“I wonder,” Voldemort continued. “Does Lucius know of this...bond his son shares with Potter?”

 

“I do not believe so, my Lord. It is only within the last week that Draco has informed me of the connection between him and Potter. Though I had my suspicions that there was something going on, as they have been spending a lot of time together since just after Halloween,” Snape explained, giving as much of the truth as he possibly could.

 

“Interesting,” Voldemort hissed and turned away from Snape, “I want you to find out the full details of this bond and report all your findings back to me,” he ordered.

 

“Of course,” Snape agreed and he started to rise to his feet before he was hit with the Cruciatus curse again.

 

“Remember this as a warning, Severus, do not withhold information from me again. You have been loyal to me for far to long for you to start slipping now.” The curse was lifted and Snape remained on the floor for a moment longer before slowly pulling himself up. “You are dismissed.” Voldemort waved his hand and Snape bowed once more before turning to leave the room.

 

Snape knew how lucky he was to be able to walk away, and to have not had any lasting damage done to him. Voldemort still needed someone who could brew potions, and until someone came along that did a better job than Snape, Voldemort wouldn't risk doing too much damage. Using the wall for support, Snape made it out the door and down the hallway before he ran into Lucius, letting out a long sigh Snape glared at the blond man. “Ask your question so that I may return to my work.”

 

“My son has not written home since Christmas, and Narcissa hasn't been home in a month,” Lucius said, eyeing his long-time friend.

 

“I will tell Draco to write home, but do not blame me if you still don't hear from him. As for Narcissa, what your wife does or doesn't do is none of my business,” Snape said coldly and moved to walk passed Lucius who grabbed his arm tightly.

 

“I would watch my back if I were you,” he said, narrowing his eyes before letting Snape go.

 

\------------------------x

 

Blaise was lying on the sofa, his mind wandering over everything that had happened since Halloween. He couldn't figure out exactly when things had gotten so complicated. They had had a few good weeks of everything being alright, but somewhere along the way something had changed. Blaise knew that his feelings for Harry were growing, and was moving beyond just wanting to protect the smaller boy because they shared a bond.

 

Blaise had found himself watching Harry more often, and he had noticed that the black haired boy had started keeping his distance. Unless there was a problem with his magic, Harry never sought out Blaise for any kind of help.

 

Blaise knew that it was Draco's fault mostly that Harry was avoiding him; the blond was a very jealous person, and he didn't like sharing. It didn't matter if it was a possession, or a person, Draco liked claiming things as his own. Blaise had seen him do it countless times, and he hadn't cared when Draco had laid claim to him, the tan boy had found it kind of adorable. But thinking about it now, Blaise had to wonder if it was more of an insecurity thing for Draco, he had to wonder if his blond boyfriend was really afraid of losing things if he hadn't claimed them.

 

Letting out a long sigh Blaise added that to the mental list he was making of things that all three of them had to talk about. On the top of the list was the obvious problem of how the three of them were going to continue on with the bond, because they couldn't keep going like this.

 

Blaise had never stopped loving Draco, even with his growing feelings for Harry. Blaise felt very protective of the both of them, and wanted to see both Draco and Harry safe and happy. And even though the blond had protested a lot in the beginning, Blaise had seen how happy Draco was to have someone that depended on him.

 

Blaise was determined to make this work; they were all going to be together for the rest of their lives as there was no known way to break this bond, and the thought of being so close to both Draco and Harry, but not being with them was very painful. The tan boy wondered if this is how Harry had felt before, being able to be close to someone but never be with them. Blaise could still remember what Harry had said to him once before. “You'll never love ME like that.” There was so much more behind Harry's words then, more than even Blaise had realised.

 

Letting out another sigh Blaise, closed his eyes. It had been a long morning,

 

\---------------------x

 

Draco frowned as something was pulling him from sleep, and although he tried to hang onto the last remnants of his dream, that too was slipping away as he was forced awake. Silently promising to punish whatever or whoever it was waking him up Draco opened his eyes and stared at the dark room, he had obviously slept a lot longer than he had meant to if it was already dark outside.

 

A small whimper from beside him had Draco groping for his wand to turn the lights on. Draco winced at the sudden brightness, letting his eyes adjust before looking down at Harry. The smaller boy was still sleeping, his brow creased in a frown, hair sticking to his forehead as the smaller boy fought against an invisible foe.

 

“Harry,” Draco said, gently put a hand on the boy's shoulder and Harry whimpered pulling away violently.

 

“... no... please...” Draco reached out again putting his hand on Harry's head, wondering if it was the Dark Lord again, but Harry's scar didn't feel hot like it had last time, which meant this was a nightmare.

 

“Harry, it's just a dream. You can wake up, you're safe. Whatever it is, it's not real, you're safe,” Draco repeated soothingly running his fingers through Harry's hair. Harry slowly seemed to be calming down, and after a few moments green eyes opened to stare up at Draco. "It's okay, Harry," Draco said softly. "It was just a dream."

 

Harry shook his head. "It wasn't a dream" Harry's voice had an almost panicked tone to it as he tried to sit up. "It's Snape, it wasn't a dream. Vol... he killed him." Tears were streaming down Harry's face now as he tried to push Draco away and get up but the blond boy didn't allow Harry to move.

 

"Harry, that was just a dream, it wasn't real,” Draco insisted. “Severus is coming back, you said so yourself. Calm down." Draco held onto Harry as the boy continued to struggle weakly.

 

"He killed him, I just saw it!" Harry allowed himself to be pulled into Draco's arms as the blond boy held Harry tightly; opening the bond between them, he was assaulted with Harry's emotions, guilt, panic, fear, and even hatred. Draco could feel Harry's quick breathing as the emotions continued building along with Harry's magic.

 

Draco didn't dare leave Harry here alone to go get Blaise, and the door was still locked and silenced. Cursing himself Draco tightened his hold in Harry, forcing the feeling of calm through the bond towards Harry. It was working, slowly but it was still working. "Deep breaths, Harry," Draco coaxed, letting out a small sigh when Harry managed to take a few deep shuddering breaths, calming down with the help of Draco.

 

“Can you tell me what happened?” Draco asked.

 

“Voldemort...he killed Snape...” Harry was still trembling slightly.

 

“It was just a dream, Harry,” Draco said, brushing some hair out of Harry's face, his fingers lightly trailing against Harry's scar. It still didn't feel hot, and Draco thought that was a good indication that what Harry saw was in fact just a dream.

 

“It looked real...I heard Voldemort too.” Harry closed his eyes tightly.

 

“I promise, it wasn't real.” Draco reassured, loosening his hold on Harry a little bit, only to have the smaller boy hold onto him tighter as soon as he went to move away. “I'm going to go get Blaise, I want to make sure your magic is fine now that you're awake,” Draco explained and Harry shook his head.

 

“Don't leave me.” Draco blinked down at Harry. The other boy hadn't said anything but he heard the silent plea as if he had.

 

“Alright, I won't leave.” Draco settled himself back on the bed, and pulled Harry close.

 

“What if it wasn't a dream?” Harry asked and Draco sighed.

 

“Then we will deal with it when we get the official news. But I am sure that it was just a dream, Harry.” Draco smiled at the confused look Harry gave him.

 

“What makes you so sure?” For Harry the dream had seemed so real, he could even still hear Voldemort's voice clearly in his head and it frightened him more than he cared to admit.

 

“Well, for starters, your scar. The last time you saw something from the Dark Lord, your scar was hot when I touched it,” Draco pointed out, smiling when Harry reached up to touch the lightning bolt scar. “Secondly, I have been shielding your mind nearly all day. My occlumency isn't perfect, but it worked well enough last time to keep the Dark Lord out of your mind. I have enough confidence in my abilities to keep him out while you are sleeping. Besides, I am sure I would have felt it if you really were having a vision.”

 

Harry thought about this before nodding in his acceptance of the blond’s logic, resting his head on Draco's shoulder. “It looked so real.” He snorted. “Maybe I'm more crazy than we originally thought.”

 

“Then maybe I can start working on making you less crazy,” Draco suggested and Harry looked up at him, the blond boy smiled down at Harry, leaning down he let his lips brush over Harry's for a second time that day.

 

“How is you kissing me again going to help?” Harry asked when Draco pulled away.

 

“Well, for starters it can take your mind off things,” Draco said with a smirk and Harry rolled his eyes slowly sitting up.

 

“I think, maybe eating something would be better,” the smaller boy said, slowly sliding off the bed and Draco followed him with a small sigh.

 

“We did miss lunch, and I think it's well beyond dinner time.” Picking up his wand, he waved it at the door to unlock it. “And I'm sure Blaise must have felt your magic just now, should probably let him know you're fine.”

 

Harry nodded, going and opening the door, smiling when he saw Blaise was in fact standing just outside. “Harry.” Blaise pulled him into a hug, much like he had earlier that afternoon, and Harry allowed it. His magic was mostly stable at the moment, but he could feel it settling down even more as he remained close to Blaise.

 

Looking over the top of Harry's head, Blaise locked eyes with Draco. “I think the three of us need to talk.”

 

“I agree,” Draco said looking from Blaise to Harry. A lot had changed in just one day, and there were still a lot more things that were going to change from now on.

 

TBC

 

Okay! Well there it is! Chapter 20! I hope everyone liked this chapter! And now to finish chapter 21, if I can keep going like this, I will have this story finished soon! The next few chapters are going to be a bit intense as everything starts heading for the big finish!


	21. Chapter 21

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 21

The three boys sat in the common room, none of them having spoken a word since they had agreed they needed to talk, creating a rather awkward silence. Harry was avoiding looking at either Blaise or Draco, he didn't know what to say to either of them; Draco had kissed him, and had confessed that he felt more for Harry then just a tentative friendship. Harry knew that his own feelings for the other two boys had been confused since Christmas but he had pushed them aside, assuming that they had been created by the bond.

"We can't sit here and stare at each other all night," Blaise said, breaking the silence. He looked over at Harry first. "Harry, you nearly lost control twice today, are you doing okay now?" Blaise asked in concern.

Harry glanced at the tan boy and nodded. "For the moment I am," he said, looking away again quickly when Blaise smiled at him.

"Draco, are you still angry with me?" Blaise asked, looking at his boyfriend.

"That depends." Draco looked at Blaise, raising a blond eyebrow at him. "Do you admit that I was right?"

Blaise smirked and nodded. "This time, yes, you were right, which is why I think all of us need to talk. We haven't talked about this bond at all, and I think it's time that we decide a few things,” the tan boy said, looking once again towards Harry; the smaller boy was looking at him in confusion.

“What kind of things do we have to decide?” Harry had though that things were going fairly well now, considering how things had started.

“We should all decide where we want to go from here,” Blaise told him. “We already know that we can't break the bond, meaning that the three of us are going to be together for the rest of our lives most likely,” he pointed out.

"Harry already knows my feelings about this bond," Draco said and was satisfied to see Harry's cheeks turning red again. "Though, he may want you to clarify what I told him about you," Draco said to Blaise.

"And what exactly did you tell him about me?” Blaise questioned, giving Draco a suspicious look.

"He said that you liked me, maybe more than liked me..." Harry said softly, unable to bring himself to look at Blaise now.

Blaise leaned back in his seat thinking over what he was going to say. “Harry, you got upset with me once before, you said that I would never love you the way that I love Draco,” Blaise reminded the smaller boy. “You were right about that, I could never love anyone the way that I love Draco.” Blaise continued to watch Harry; even though the green-eyed boy wasn't looking at him, he could tell that Harry was listening carefully to everything he was saying. “But, over these past few months, being bonded to you, I have grown deeply fond of you. There is nothing I want more than to protect and care for you in whatever way that I can.” Blaise didn't want to come right out and say that he loved Harry, he thought it was a little too soon for that, but he wanted Harry to understand how much he had come to care about him.

Green eyes slowly lifted from where they had been fixed on the floor. Harry looked at Blaise, unsure if he should believe what he was hearing or not; or if he dared to hope that not only Draco, but Blaise as well could care about him as much as they both claimed to. “But...you two are together,” Harry said before he could stop himself. “I don't understand... how can you both love each other, but still want me as well?” 'Or at all,' Harry added silently to himself.

Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry, but it was Blaise who stood up from the sofa. Moving over to where Harry was sitting on the floor, the tan boy knelt down in front of Harry. “It is possible for us to love more than one person, Harry,” Blaise explained, smiling at the skeptical look that Harry was giving him.

The smaller boy shook his head. “I still don't understand,” Harry said, sighing as he ran a hand through his hair. “I'm trying to, I really am…”

“Harry.” Draco spoke now, catching the smaller boy's attention before Harry could work himself into a state by over thinking everything. “I think it's only fair to ask for your answer now; how do you feel about Blaise and me?”

Frowning, Harry stared up at the blond boy before slowly turning to look at Blaise again. Chewing on his lip, Harry tried to think of how he could put it into words; it was a little harder than it sounded. “I... I like you both, you make me feel safe... safer than I've ever felt really.” Harry looked down to hide the blush that was coloring his cheeks again. Hearing movement, Harry glanced up and saw Draco also standing from the sofa and walking over to where Harry was still sitting on the floor. The blond boy knelt down in front of him and, reaching out, gently lifted Harry's head so that he could look into the bright green eyes; Draco smiled at him.

“Then we will start there, and work with that. If you are willing to try, I think that perhaps the three of us could be together,” Draco offered, smiling a little wider when he saw those eyes widen, darting back and forth between him and Blaise.

“But, you... I... that...” Harry didn't seem to be able to make up his mind about what he was going to say, and Blaise chuckled.

“Just a simple yes or no will do for now I think,” Blaise said.

Biting his lip, and fighting against every voice in his head that was saying that this would be a bad idea, that things were fine the way they were, that maybe this was just a cruel trick that Blaise and Draco were playing on him, Harry slowly nodded his head. “We can try...” he said softly, letting out a startled squeak when soft lips were pressed to his again. His eyes were once again impossibly wide, staring at Draco as the blond kissed him.

“And here I was going to suggest that we take things slow,” Blaise commented and rolled his eyes when Draco pulled back from the smaller boy. Standing up, Blaise reached down and pulled Harry to stand as well.

“Are you going to kiss me too?” Harry asked, staring up at Blaise.

Blaise chuckled. “Do you want me to kiss you? It would only be fair if I did, since Draco already has.”

Harry shook his head. “I don't know!” he said, hiding his face in Blaise's chest now. “This is going too fast... I can't wrap my head around any of it! I like you, and I like Draco, and you both say that you like me, but I don't think I can believe that just yet,” Harry said, his voice muffled slightly. Blaise sighed gently pulling Harry with him as he backed up to sit on the sofa again, until Harry was sat on his lap, cuddled up against him.

“We do like you, Harry,” Blaise said. “I can't make any promises for Draco, but I will not move any faster than you want to.” Blaise promised. “As long as you are willing to try, I think we can make this work, use the bond as a starting point.”

Harry lifted his head to look at Blaise, then turning slightly to look at Draco. “I... can I think about this for a little while?” Harry asked; he really wanted to talk with Hermione about what was happening, she would be good at either talking him into or out of it.

“Of course,” Draco said and Harry smiled at him.

“Now that that is mostly settled, you didn't eat earlier,” Blaise said to Harry, shifting the other boy off his lap so he could grab the food that Harry had brought back to the room that afternoon.

“I wasn't all that hungry earlier,” Harry confessed as he watched Blaise.

“Which is why you are going to eat something now,” Blaise ordered as he dug into the basket that was still sitting on the table; finding meat slices and bread, the tan boy put together three sandwiches, handing one to Harry and another to Draco before he sat back down on the sofa to eat his own.

“I'm not really all that hungry now either,” Harry protested looking down at the sandwich he had been given.

“Harry, the last thing you ate today was breakfast, and even then you didn't eat all that much,” Blaise pointed out with a sigh. “Just, try and eat some of it now please?”

Harry frowned, looking at the sandwich again and, letting out a sigh of his own, he took a bite. He wouldn't be able to eat all of it, there was too much going on in his mind right now for him to have much of an appetite. He had never thought that being bonded to Draco and Blaise would have lead to this, he had never even kissed anyone before. Draco Malfoy had managed to steal his first, and second kiss, even his third. The kiss had been surprising enough, but what was shocking Harry even more was the fact that he wasn't even upset about it. Confused, maybe even a little scared, but definitely not upset.

\--------------------x

Elladora Zabini sat quietly in her sitting room, carefully writing out a letter that she would be sending to her son. She had waited a month to hear from him, after getting a letter requesting that she invite Narcissa Malfoy to stay with her; she had been hoping to hear more from Blaise, hopefully explaining what was going on, but there had been nothing.

Narcissa had, however, explained to Elladora, as much as she could; that Blaise was now trapped in a bond with Harry Potter, who had also managed to bind her only son, Draco, into a bond as well. Narcissa had reassured her that the Potter boy had not deliberately trapped their sons in this bond and Elladora was willing to believe it; she had been friends with Narcissa for a very long time, and mostly trusted what the woman was telling her. However, it didn't change the fact that Elladora would have liked to find out about the bond from Blaise.

She knew a letter to her son would have to be carefully worded, especially now that he was connected to the Potter boy. Instructing him that he was to come home for the Easter holiday would be no issue, but the difficult thing was that she also wanted Blaise to bring Draco and Potter with him. Narcissa would enjoy seeing her own son, and Elladora wanted to meet Harry Potter for herself.

She sat there for nearly another hour before the letter was complete, triple reading it to be sure she was satisfied with her wording before she was done. Letting out a small sigh, she sealed the letter, placing charms on it so that only Blaise would be able to read it. 

She had never had to be so cautious while sending her own son a letter before. She had managed to stay out of the first war, and had been doing a decent job about staying out of the current one as well; however, if what Narcissa had told her was true, then there was no possible way that she could continue to be neutral, she would be forced to choose a side, and if there was one thing that Elladora hated, it was being told what to do.

But she was a patient person, she would wait, she would meet the boy who was bound to her son, who was forcing her to choose a side, and then she would judge the situation for herself.

\------------------------x

Harry practically fell into the seat across from Hermione. The bushy-haired girl looked at her small friend in surprise; it had been a little over three months since Harry had been seen in the Great Hall, let alone sitting at the Gryffindor table.

“Harry?” She looked at him in concern.

“I really needed to talk to you, 'mione, and you weren't in the library,” Harry told her. “I thought about checking the tower, but since it was almost lunch time I thought you might be in here,” he rambled, looking more flustered then Hermione had ever seen him.

“Calm down, Harry,” she said and glanced around to make sure that there wasn't anyone close by. There were people staring at Harry, but it didn't appear that anyone was close enough to listen to them. “What happened?” she asked.

Harry chewed on his lower lip; he had wanted so much to talk with Hermione about this, get her opinion on what he should do, that he hadn't put any thought into how to actually tell her what had happened. “It's...ugh, I don't know! It's confusing!” Harry said in frustration.

“Alright, let's go somewhere more private to talk” she suggested and Harry nodded, standing up to follow her out of the Great Hall. They were almost out of the room, only for Hermione to stop short when she almost walked right into Ron, who was on his way into the Great Hall.

“Sorry,” Ron said, then frowned, his eyes narrowing when he saw Harry standing behind Hermione. “What are YOU doing here?” Ron demanded to know.

Harry frowned looking at Ron, “Not that it's any of your business, but I needed to talk with Hermione,” Harry said and Ron clenched his fists. “Going to attack me in front of everyone this time?” Harry questioned and watched Ron's face go red.

“Whatever,” Ron huffed and pushed passed Harry. Hermione frowned, watching Ron, before she glanced around the Gryffindor table to see if the twins were there. Letting out a small sigh when she didn't see them, she turned her attention back to Harry.

“Sorry, Harry, let's go,” she said, smiling at her friend, who was still glaring at Ron's retreating back. Looking back at her, Harry nodded before they continued on their way.

Finding an empty classroom for them to talk in was easy enough, but even after they were inside, and Hermione had transfigured two of the desks into comfy arm chairs, Harry still wasn't sure about where he should begin. Hermione sat down in her chair and watched Harry while the smaller boy sat down, then stood up and paced around the room before sitting down again.

“Harry-” Hermione began, but Harry cut her off.

“Draco kissed me,” he blurted out, his face turning bright red and Hermione's eyes went wide in shock.

They were both silent for a long moment. “What?” Hermione finally asked.

Harry let out a long sigh and sank back in his chair. “Draco kissed me, yesterday, then again last night...”

“Okay...but what about Blaise?” she asked, looking mildly confused. “I thought they were together.”

“They are,” Harry confirmed. “That's why I had to talk to you; everything is so confusing and I can't get my thoughts straight at the moment...”

“Does Blaise know about the kiss?” Hermione questioned and Harry nodded. “I think you should start at the beginning, Harry,” she suggested and Harry let out another sigh before nodding. He told her everything, starting from the meeting with Dumbledore yesterday morning, and explaining how the day had progressed and finally ended with both Blaise and Draco offering Harry a chance to join their relationship.

“So wait, they both want to date you?” Hermione asked and Harry nodded.

“Apparently?” Harry said, though it came out more like a question. “I don't know, that's what it sounded like. I mean, I started having feelings for Blaise back before Christmas... and Draco is a recent development... but I like them both a lot... I just don't know what to do!” Harry said hoping that Hermione understood his dilemma.

“I don't see what the problem is then; if they both like you, and you like them as well, why not give it a try? You are already bonded to the two of them,” she said and Harry's eyes went wide as he stared at her like he had never seen her before.

“What? I can't!” Harry said jumping to his feet and starting to pace again.

“Why not?” she asked, watching him pace from one end of the room to the other. “You just said that you liked them both, and I don't think they would have asked you to date them if they didn't like you back.”

“But what if it doesn't work out? What if I just ruin their relationship with each other? I'm just going to get more in the way then I already am.” Harry continued his pacing and rambling until Hermione stood up and grabbed his arm.

“Harry James Potter!” she snapped, narrowing her eyes at her friend. “Just once in your life, can you be a little selfish?” she asked. “Think of what YOU want for once. I really don't think they would have made that offer to you lightly. If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't, but you are bonded to them for life. If you take this chance and it doesn't work out then you will at least know that you tried. I do not want to see you stuck in this bond, wondering what would have happened if you had accepted.”

Hermione kept eye contact with Harry making sure that he understood what she was saying. She smiled when he nodded his head slowly and she hugged him.

“Now I think you should go give them an answer, don't you?” she asked and Harry smiled at her before nodding. He still wasn't fully convinced that this was going to work out, but what kind of Gryffindor would he be if he ran away now.

\------------------------x

Harry slowly made his way back to the common room thinking about what Hermione had said; to be selfish, just once. Harry wanted to, there had been plenty of opportunities to be selfish in his life, and he had even been tempted at times. However, each time he had given in to the temptation, there was always something there that proved to him that being selfish was never worth it. The price he paid for those moments of happiness had always been far too high, and yet, here he was again, doing something for himself.

Harry paused outside the door to the common room and just stared at it, he tried to think of everything that could go wrong for him doing this. He had already promised that he would try, and surely that could be enough for now, but Harry really did want to be selfish, he didn't want to just try and see where things went, he wanted to be with Blaise and Draco, he wanted that warm safe feeling that he had woken up to a month ago in the hospital wing.

Taking a deep breath Harry opened the door and stepped inside. He hoped that Blaise and Draco weren't inside, maybe give himself a little more time to think things through, but he had no such luck; both the other boys were sitting in the common room, Blaise sitting on the sofa, and Draco sitting next to him, reading one of his text books.

Harry didn't even have to announce that he was back, before the door even had a chance to close, Harry had two sets of eyes on him.

“Are you done avoiding us?” Blaise asked, but he was smiling at Harry, who blushed and nodded slowly.

“I'm sorry, I just, I couldn't really wrap my mind around everything that was happening. I needed time and space to think,” Harry admitted, walking over to his bondmates. He was slightly surprised when space was made for him on the sofa; it was a simple gesture, and Draco hadn't even moved all that much, but Harry still stared at the empty spot between them on the sofa with wide eyes.

Letting out a small sigh, Draco reached out and grabbed Harry's hand pulling him to sit on the sofa between them. “Have you had enough time to think?” the blond boy questioned.

“Only because I had help,” Harry admitted, leaning back and closing his eyes. “I think...no, I know what I want, but I'm also scared,” Harry said, wanting to be honest with them. “More than scared, I'm practically terrified. I don't know what either of you want from me, or what I can even give you. But, despite that, I want... I want more, I want more than just this bond. I don't want to just try, I want an actual relationship with both of you,” Harry said never once opening his eyes as he spoke.

“Then what are you afraid of?” Blaise asked.

Harry sighed opening his eyes now to look at the tan boy. “I'm afraid of what this is going to cost... I've never been able to have anything without a high price... I have a family, but no love, I have a godfather, but he's on the run, I'm able to do magic, but it's too strong for me to control,” Harry explained. “The list goes on really, so...I'm scared of what this is going to cost.”

Harry lowered his head to stare at his hands that were clenched in his lap. “Harry.” It was Blaise that spoke up first, the smaller boy returning his attention to look back at Blaise. “You being with us, it doesn't mean anything is going to happen. Yes, bad shit happens, but it doesn't happen because fate is putting a price on your happiness,” the tan boy tried to reason but Harry just frowned at him.

“Harry.” Draco waited until Harry was facing him before he continued. “What do you think is going to happen, if you get something that you want?”

“I don't know exactly, but there's a lot of things that could happen,” Harry said.

“Give me an example.” Draco urged and Harry sighed standing up from the sofa and started pacing, much like he had when talking with Hermione.

“Your parents could be killed,” Harry said, not stopping his pacing.

“They could be killed either way,” Draco pointed out. “This is a war after all, and lots of people die in wars. I would be devastated if my mother was hurt or killed, but that has nothing to do with the bond, or our relationship.”

Harry paused and glared at Draco. “Voldemort could use the connection he has with me to hurt you. Or make me hurt you...”

“Again. both are things that could happen regardless,” Draco said, waving the excuse off again.

Blaise stood up when he saw Harry's eyes flash with anger. “Harry, I think Draco is just trying to make a point. Whatever might happen, or could happen, it doesn't mean that you being with us will be the cause of it.” Blaise smiled down at Harry, who frowned, looking from the tan boy over to Draco who nodded.

“Yes, that is basically the point I was trying to make,” Draco said and Harry sighed looking down at his feet as he tried to think of anything else to say.

“If something DOES happen though...” Harry started to say, but Draco cut him off.

“Then we will deal with it the,.” the blond boy said and Harry was silent for another moment before he nodded.

“So...” Harry looked at Draco, then to Blaise. “Does this mean we're dating now?” Harry asked curiously.

Blaise laughed as he put an arm around Harry's shoulder. “Yes Harry, I believe it does, in fact, mean that we are dating now. Though we will still take things at your pace,” Blaise promised and Harry smiled gratefully at him, allowing Blaise to lead him back over to the sofa. Harry settled down next to Draco, smiling when Blaise sat on the other side of him. The three of them sat in a comfortable silence, before a nagging question formed in the back of Harry's mind and he had to ask.

“Has Snape come back yet?” Harry asked, looking to Draco. The blond boy blinked down at Harry, frowning slightly.

“I don't think so. I'm sure we will know when he is back, you did say that he wanted to talk to you,” Draco said and Harry nodded his head slowly as he chewed on his lower lip. Draco sighed. “Harry, if you're still worried about your dream from last night-”

“What if it wasn't a dream.” Harry interrupted. “I know you said it most likely was, but what if it wasn't?”

“It hasn't even been a full day, Harry. Give it until tomorrow afternoon before you start to panic,” Blaise said. “Let's just enjoy this moment for right now,” Harry reluctantly agreed, settling back against the sofa, doing his best not to worry about anything for just right now. Even if it was only five minutes of not worrying, it would be worth it.

“Harry,” Blaise said, and Harry looked over at him, only to have the tan boy's lips suddenly pressed against his. It was a quick, sweet kiss, nothing like the deep kiss Draco had given him before. “There, now Draco and I have each gotten a kiss from you.” Blaise smirked as he pulled back.

“I have actually gotten three from him,” Draco said not looking up from his book.

“Well, then I guess I have some catching up to do,” Blaise said, though he didn't attempt to steal another kiss just yet, something Harry was grateful for. He was very happy right now, but he still needed a little time to wrap his head around the whole idea of dating both Draco and Blaise.

\------------------------x

Snape practically fell out of the fireplace when he arrived to his home. He couldn't return to Hogwarts right away like he had wanted to, with how badly his hands were shaking, and the fact that he was barely able to stand on his own without the support of a wall or nearby table. He needed the potions that he kept at his home. Making his way to his private stores, it took more than a few tries to get the case unlocked, mentally cursing his trembling hands.

Finally managing to get the potions he was after, he downed them one after another before collapsing in a nearby chair. He could still feel his hands twitching every now and then, but there wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment. He would need uninterrupted sleep, as well as a few more potions to head off whatever nerve damage he had sustained from the amount of times the Cruciatus curse had been placed on him that night. But miner nerve damage was still a lot better than death, at least this way the boys were still safe for a little while longer.

Snape sat in his chair for nearly an hour before he thought that he might be able to stand. His body still protested at moving so much, but if he was going to get any sleep he would need to be in his own bed. A solid night of sleep, and tomorrow he would have to brew more potions as his stores were running lower than he was comfortable with; being a potions master, nerve damage was a frightening concept, still better than death, but just barely and so he was going to take the time to get plenty of rest.

\------------------------x

Harry let out a small sigh of frustration as he once again paced around his room, checking the time every now and then. He hadn't been able to get to sleep at all last night; he was still worried about Snape, who had not returned from the meeting with Voldemort, even though a full day had passed. Draco was still insisting that what Harry had seen the night before was nothing more than a dream and Harry wanted to believe that Snape hadn't actually been killed, but the images were still far to vivid in his mind, and he couldn't still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

He paused after making another lap around his room, checking the time once more; it was just past five in the morning. Harry wanted to leave his room; he was sure that no one else in the castle would even be awake right now, but figured that it was early enough in the morning that it wouldn't count as being out past curfew.

Nodding to himself as he made up his mind, Harry quickly changed into fresh clothes before leaving his room as quietly as he could. If Blaise and Draco were asleep, the last thing Harry wanted to do was wake them up.

As he left the common room, he wondered if he should attempt to go up to Gryffindor Tower, partly to look for Hermione, but also because Harry really did miss the tower; he hadn't been up there since the first week in November, with good reason of course. Harry thought that it might be alright to go up there now, he had seen plenty of other students around between his own classes, and no one had tried attacking him recently. However, that didn't mean that Ron wouldn't try anything. 

Letting out a small sigh, Harry decided against going to the tower after all. It was too much of a risk, and it being five in the morning meant that Hermione wasn't likely to be awake anyway. Harry decided to instead make a detour to the Owlery. He would visit with Hedwig, and then catch up with Hermione in the library later, at a more reasonable hour.

Harry tried to stay as quiet as possible because, even though he was sure that he wouldn't get in trouble for being up this early, he didn't want to take that chance. Letting out a sigh of relief when he reached the Owlery without incident, he started to open the door, but stopped when he heard voices coming from the other side.

“Stop fighting it!” someone snapped and Harry frowned; the voice sounded familiar, but he wasn't sure who it belonged to. “It'll be much easier if you just do as you're told,” the person continued. They sounded angry. Leaning down to look through the small crack in the door, Harry tired to see who was talking, but he couldn't see anyone.

“NO!” someone shouted back, and that was a voice Harry recognised easily. Ron was fighting with someone, and after his last encounter with the red-head, Harry wasn't all that willing to be caught here by his ex-friend.

It was as Harry started to turn away, that he heard the unknown person speaking again, but it was what he heard that had Harry freezing where he stood. “Imperio.” There was silence on the other side of the door again, but Harry was now listening closely, wondering if he had heard wrong.

“You are becoming more trouble then you're worth, Weasley.” The unknown person sighed. “Let's try and not break free this time? I still need your help a little longer, but if you behave, then I won't enlist Granger's help.”

Harry heard two sets of footsteps and quickly reached for his wand, grabbing it just as the door was pulled opened. Harry and Ron stared at each other, the red-head's eyes went wide in surprise, but Harry was watching him closely, waiting for any sign that he was going to attack.

“Well, this is inconvenient,” the person behind Ron said, and Harry noticed that this person was purposely staying behind the red-head so that Harry would have to attack Ron in order to get to him.

“What did you do to Ron?” Harry demanded, his grip tightening on his wand as he shifted uneasily. He could already feel his magic tingling just under his skin, but he still had control of it for right now.

“He did nothing to me, Potter,” Ron answered as he grabbed his own wand and pointed it at Harry.

“He has you under the Imperius curse! That's not nothing,” Harry snapped wondering if there was a way to break the curse. They had learned about the unforgivable curses last year, but only how to break the Imperius curse on your own, nothing about how to free someone else from it.

“And who is going to believe you, Potter?” the person behind Ron questioned. Harry shifted around on the stairs trying to see who it was that was, but they kept moving as well, making sure that they were mostly hidden at all times so that Harry wouldn't have a clean shot at them; they were just using the Ron as a personal shield. This only fueled Harry's anger at the unknown person. Harry didn't want to hurt Ron, but he couldn't allow this person to continue using his friend, even if in the end it turned out that Ron still didn't like him.

“Stupefy!” Harry said, shooting the curse at Ron, hoping to just knock the red-head out so that the person behind him wouldn't have a human shield anymore. However, the spell was a lot stronger than Harry had anticipated, hitting Ron with enough force to send the red-head and the other person flying back into the Owlery.

Harry stared at the empty doorway with wide eyes before hurrying up the steps to find out if he had hurt Ron with the over powered stunning spell. But as soon as he made it through the door, a spell shot past him, just barely missing him. He moved out of the way quickly, finding a place to hide behind one of the pillars as he tried to calm his racing heart.

“I never would have thought that you of all people would shoot first,” the unknown person said and Harry turned his head slightly, wondering if he could catch a glimpse of who it was. 

However, this was clearly a mistake as another spell shot passed Harry, barely missing him, and he the smaller boy cursed under his breath. “Who are you?” Harry demanded to know, making sure to keep himself behind cover this time.

“We've never met before,” was the answer.

“Doesn't matter, I'd still like to know who's trying to kill me,” Harry snapped. There was silence and Harry took the chance to try and look again but he just couldn’t get a clear sight of whoever the boy was.

“I'm not trying to kill you, though for someone like you that's probably what you deserve.” There was a short pause. “Though I suppose it's only fair you know the name of the person who is going to expose you for what you really are. I'm Cormac McLaggen,” the boy said as if his name was supposed to mean something; it reminded Harry of how Draco had first introduced himself, as if he were better than everyone around him.

“You are making no sense!” Harry shouted at him, his mind going at an alarming pace, trying to work out how he was going to get himself and Ron out of there safely. “I haven't done anything!”

“Killing Cedric Diggory isn't nothing,” Cormac snapped back. “You might be Harry Potter, but even you can't get away with killing people.”

“I don't know where you've been getting your information, but I haven't killed anyone!” Harry shouted back, only to have another curse fired at him. Harry could feel that his magic was still building up; he had to disarm Cormac soon before things got out of control. With how powerful the stunning spell had been before, Harry didn't dare use anything stronger. He had to disarm and stun Cormac, and then go get help. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than staying hidden behind the pillar.

Listening closely, Harry could hear footsteps coming towards him; he moved to look around one side of the pillar and waited until Cormac had fired off the one spell, moving quickly Harry spun and darted out from the other side of the pillar, firing his own spells off towards Cormac, trying to either disarm or stun him.

Cormac was older, and had good reflexes. He managed to block and dodge all of Harry's spells, and managed to fire off a few of his own at the same time. Harry was holding his own, thanks to being quick on his feet, but his magic was starting to burn under his skin, and it was near impossible to try holding it back while casting one spell after another.

The other boy was giving as good as he got and Harry was breathing heavily as he rushed to hide behind another pillar. He could feel his magic building up and his own panic at that starting to rise too and he knew he had to finish this quickly. Hopefully without his magic attempting to bring the roof down on them.

Harry cursed again as two spells rushed passed his left side, he went to move from the other side of his cover; he had to locate where Ron was, he wouldn't be able to get the red head out of here safely if he didn't know where Ron had landed. Another spell shot right past his face, so close that the light of it was almost blinding, he moved back quickly to avoid the curse, but he took one step to far back, the curse hit Harry like a thousand knives all at once. 

His was magic burning and looking for release as he screamed from the pain of having the Cruciatus curse hit him. It was a pain he remembered all too well from the previous year, a pain that he hadn't wanted to ever feel again. However, combined with his burning magic, Harry felt as if he was being torn apart and his screams echoed all around him, even after Cormac had canceled the curse.

Cormac looked horrified as he watched Harry arching off the floor and screaming. He didn't even have time to think of what he should do when a spell hit him from behind. Ron watched with satisfaction as Cormac fell to the floor, hastily conjuring some rope to tie him up, the red-head turned his full attention towards Harry.

Harry tried to stop his magic, tried to pull it back in; he had been able to do it before but there was too much of it. He was burning up from the inside and he couldn't stop it; he wanted Blaise, and he wanted Draco, but they didn't even know where he was at the moment. He tried calling for them, tried moving to pick himself up off the floor, the only thought in his mind was the he had to get to them, but another wave of uncontrolled magic had him falling back to the floor.

“Harry!” Ron tried to get the smaller boy's attention, but Harry only curled up on himself. “Harry what do I do?” Ron asked as he moved closer.

Harry slowly lifted his head to look at Ron, but another wave of magic pushed out towards Ron, making the red-head fall back onto the floor as Harry screamed. The smaller boy wrapped his arms around himself tighter as he forced his magic back inside, something he knew that would be extremely painful, but it would buy Ron some time to get out of here.

“Harry, I need to know what to do!” Ron said, trying to get an answer from Harry, but not getting to close to him again.

“Blaise... I need Blaise, and Draco,” Harry hissed through clenched teeth. “Please!” The last word was said in a scream as Harry fought against his magic.

Ron didn't even know where Blaise and Draco were, but he jumped to his feet and ran out of the Owlery anyway. He hated leaving Harry like that, but Ron remembered how the two Slytherin's had calmed Harry's magic during Halloween, if they could do it again, then leaving Harry there was the only option. He didn't want to waste valuable time searching the whole castle for them, so Ron hurried straight back to Gryffindor tower; Hermione had still been close to Harry this whole time, so had Fred and George, if anyone knew where to find Blaise and Draco, it would be those three.

TBC

Alright, here is yet another chapter! I am really on a roll with this story, I am very nearly finished with the whole thing and that makes me super happy! I am sorry to anyone who is reading Contract Under Love, but I will be updating that one soon. I am working on chapter 6, but with Unwanted Bonds being so close to done, I am eager to finish this story so that I can put more focus on other more exciting ones that I am working on. I have been trying to update on my facebook about the progress I am having with all of my current stories, three of which are already posted, and five that have are waiting for their turn to go up. So please feel free to look me up on facebook under Celtic Kitsune!


	22. Chapter 22

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 22

Hermione sighed as she slowly made her way down from the dormitory to the common room, a few school books held tightly in her arms. She felt so far behind in her studying; between worrying about what was going on with Ron, and trying to make sure that Harry was doing alright, she had lightened her study load quite a lot from past years. She was worried about what effect this was going to have on her O.W.L. scores, but making sure her friends were safe was worth it.

However, she refused to let her studies slide completely, so she had taken to waking up earlier than anyone else to get a couple hours before breakfast, and before the common room got too loud and overrun with other students.

Hermione had only just gotten all her things set up and was just deciding on where she should start, when the door to the common room burst open and Ron stumbled through. The red-head was panting hard as he looked around the common room, spotting Hermione in her corner.

“'mione,” he said, hurrying over to her. Hermione stood up quickly, her hand resting against her wand, but she didn't draw it just yet. “I need to find Zabini and Malfoy, and I have no idea where to find them,” Ron said quickly and Hermione frowned.

“Why do you need them?” she asked.

Ron shook his head. “It's Harry. I can't explain, but he needs them NOW!” Ron looked almost panicked and Hermione wanted to ask what was going on, but if Harry was in trouble, the questions would have to wait.

“I'll go get them,” Hermione said. “Where is Harry?” she asked urgently, already moving across the room towards the exit.

“He's in the Owlery,” Ron said and moved to follow her out of the common room, but she stopped him.

“You need to stay here. I don't know what's been going on, Ron, but Zabini and Malfoy, they won't be happy to see you if they know that Harry's hurt,” She said, quickly turning and leaving the common room. But Ron still followed her.

“I want to help. Please, Hermione you have to let me help,” he said and Hermione sighed looking back at him.

“If you want to help, go and tell Pomfrey or go tell Dumbledore and explain to him what happened, so that they at least know how to handle this if Harry needs more help than what Blaise and Draco can give him,” she said. Ron reluctantly nodded but followed Hermione until he had to split off in the direction of the hospital wing. From the way that Harry had been screaming, Ron was sure that the small boy would need to see the school nurse.

Hermione continued on her own way, heading straight up towards the Owlery; she didn't want to waste time looking for Blaise and Draco, when they most likely already knew that Harry was in trouble.

\----------------x

Harry was in so much pain as struggled to hold his magic inside, forcing it back down where it belonged. He was dimly aware of the fact that Ron had left, either running away, or maybe actually going to get the help that Harry so desperately needed. However, all of Harry's focus was on his magic, on the burning under his skin and how every breath he took became more painful than the last. But Harry refused to let his magic go now, there was too much of it, and if he let it go now there was no telling what kind of damage Harry could do to himself or the tower around him. So Harry curled up tighter and tried to focus on his breathing, hoping that Blaise and Draco would get here soon.

That's when he heard it, that small voice that had always been somewhere in the back of his mind. 'You're going to die here.' That frightened Harry more than he was willing to admit, he had never been afraid of death before, no matter what happened to him, it had never mattered. But the thought of dying now, like this; he didn't want to die. Things had only just started getting better for him.

'Death is the price of the happiness you stole, they don't really love you, no one could ever love you,' the voice continued and Harry nearly let his hold slip on his magic; he screamed as he pulled it back in, causing his chest to tighten painfully, and for a moment Harry couldn't breathe. The voice in his head laughed. 'You are going to die,' it said again.

"NO!" Harry screamed, forcing himself to breathe through this new pain, but it was getting harder and harder to concentrate on his breathing and his magic both at once. Black spots started appearing in the corner of his eyes. “...please...” Harry tried calling for his bond-mates once more, he needed them. He could feel his hold slipping on his magic, and he couldn't hold it any more. It was more painful than he thought it would have been; his magic burst from him and Harry didn't have the energy to try and pull it back in again.

The walls and floor shook around him from the force of his magic; blackness overtook Harry then, he couldn't bring his magic back in, it was far too late for that now. The cruel laugh still echoed in the back of Harry's mind as his eyes closed and his breathing slowed to a stop as the blackness took him. The small boy never saw Blaise running through the door to the Owlery, followed closely by Draco, he never felt the cool hands of the tan boy, or his magic start to calm down.

Draco came to sit on the opposite side of Harry; he could still feel the magic cracking in the air, but everything was silent, and Harry had gone so still. Grey eyes widened. “Blaise, he's not breathing!” Draco said as he looked at the unconscious boy.

“I know!” Blaise didn't meant to snap at the blond, but he was trying to think about what he could do, something to get Harry breathing again that wouldn't cause him any injury.

Draco, however, was ahead of Blaise in his thinking, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Harry's chest, speaking the spell before Blaise could even think to stop him. “Repiratus!”

“Don't use magic on him!” Blaise snapped, glaring at Draco even though the blond had already used the spell. Draco, however, ignored the Italian boy and just watched Harry for any signs that the spell had worked. It was a long silent and tense moment, before the small boy took a shuddering breath, followed by another. Draco relaxed slightly; just knowing that Harry was breathing again was good enough for the moment, even if Harry sounded like he was gasping, trying to get enough air in his lungs.

Both boys turned back towards the doorway when they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Draco had his wand pointed at the door but sighed when he saw that it was only Hermione. “What the hell are you doing here, Granger?” Draco asked.

Hermione ignored the question as she hurried over to where they were on the floor with Harry; she paused mid step, however, when she saw the Cormac McLaggen still unconscious on the floor not too far away. “What happened?” she asked, looking back at the blond, who narrowed his eyes at her.

“I get the feeling that you know more about what happened than we do,” Blaise said looking at the bushy-haired girl.

“Ron told me that Harry was up here and needed help. He wanted me to find you two but I thought you might already be up here, so I came to see if Harry was alright,” She explained. Blaise turned away from her, easily scooping Harry up in his arms before turning back towards the door.

“Harry wasn't breathing when we reached him,” Blaise said. “I'm taking him to the hospital wing.” He had no obligation to explain what he was doing to Hermione, but he knew that she had been a big help to Harry, and he also had no reason not to tell her. Draco, however, said nothing to Hermione, following Blaise, when the tan boy carried Harry out.

Hermione watched them leave before sighing and looking back at Cormac, if he was the one who had hurt Harry, she didn't want to leave him here so that he could get away. Conjuring a stretcher she followed after Draco and Blaise, heading straight to the hospital wing.

\-------------------------x

Ron was pacing back and forth in the hospital wing when Blaise came in with Harry, Draco following closely behind. The tan boy didn't even spare a glance towards Ron as he hurried to put Harry down on one of the beds. Draco stopped short when he saw Ron, narrowing grey eyes at the red-head.

"What did you do?" Draco demanded. Ron stopped his pacing and looked at Draco, then over to the unconscious form of Harry; it didn't escape his notice that Blaise was now standing between him and Harry.

"I didn't-" Ron started to say but stopped talking when he saw Draco pull his wand.

"Try again, weasel," Draco hissed.

"Draco," Blaise snapped sternly, "no magic." Draco didn't respond, keeping his wand pointed at Ron. Sighing, Blaise turned his attention to the red-head. "What happened?" Though Blaise was a bit more polite about asking, Ron could easily tell that the tan boy was just barely holding his own anger back.

"I didn't do anything," Ron said defensively.

"We got that much, but you were there, so you know what happened," Blaise said, his hand twitching to grab his own wand.

"I don't know," Ron insisted. "Harry knocked me out, I woke up when I heard him screaming."

"Well that's convenient," Draco said irritability.

"It's the truth," Ron snapped back. "I never wanted to hurt Harry." Ron glared at Draco.

"You have a funny way of showing it. I suppose you were just trying to talk to him when you, Thomas and Finnigan attacked him." Draco held his wand tighter as he spoke; he had to keep reminding himself getting into a fight with Weasley in the hospital wing, with Harry so close, was a very bad idea.

"I was under the Imperious curse," Ron said his hands clenching into fists. Before Draco could reply the door opened again and Hermione came in, McLaggen floating along behind her. "Why did you bring him here?" Ron demanded as he stared at the still unconscious form on the stretcher.

"I couldn't leave him up there," Hermione explained, then looked around frowning. "Where's Pomfrey?"

"I told her what happened, she went to get Dumbledore," Ron said still glaring at McLaggen while Hermione placed him on one of the beds.

“Ron,” Hermione spoke, but the red-head didn't even look at her and she sighed.

“I think you need to start explaining to us what happened here,” Draco demanded and Ron turned to glare at the blond boy now.

“I don't owe you any explanation!” Ron snapped.

Draco narrowed his eyes, his hand tightening on his wand. Blaise was there then, standing next to Draco. “Don't start a fight here,” Blaise hissed and Draco shook his head.

“He did something to Harry-”

“I didn't do anything!” Ron growled, but didn't pull his own wand out. “Harry knocked me out, the fight was already over by the time I woke up!” Hermione was there then, standing between Ron and Draco.

“Now is not the time to be fighting about any of this!” Hermione said looking from one boy to the other. “Malfoy, Ron is the one who came to get me, to find you two, so that Harry could get help.”

“Maybe he was scared that he might have actually killed Harry this time,” Draco hissed.

“I was under the Imperious curse, you dumb ferret!” Ron nearly yelled, causing the whole room to fall silent then. Draco still had his wand pointed at the red-head though, unwilling to lower it just yet. Though that decision was taken from him when Pomfrey hurried back into the room, followed closely by Dumbledore.

“What is going on here?” Pomfrey demanded catching sight of Ron being held at wand point by Draco.

“Poppy, please tend to Harry,” Dumbledore requested. “I will handle these four,” the headmaster turned his serious gaze towards the small group of children. “I think I would like to start with Mr. Weasley. I believe that Poppy wouldn't mind if we borrowed her office for a few moments.” Dumbledore waited until Ron nodded before directing the boy towards the back of the hospital wing.

Even after Ron was out of site, Draco couldn't relax. His attention turned towards Harry's bed, where Pomfrey was working frantically. Harry looked pale, and wasn't showing any signs of waking up any time soon. “He'll be alright,” Blaise said as he came to stand next to Draco.

“He wasn't breathing, Blaise,” Draco reminded the tan boy, not that he needed reminding.

“You got him breathing again, and he's now with Pomfrey.” Blaise pulled Draco closer to him, wrapping his arms around the blond boy's waist. “When he wakes up though, we're going to have to have a serious talk with him about trying to hold his out-of-control magic inside.” Blaise sighed and Draco nodded his agreement.

\-------------------------x

Harry slowly opened his eyes and blinked in confusion. He could easily tell that he was in the hospital wing, even without his glasses on, he had seen the blurry ceiling of this room often enough that he could tell where he was without seeing clearly. What confused him was the fact that he was awake at all.

"Harry?" The small boy heard the familiar voice of Blaise, turning his head slightly to see the blurry outline of the tan boy. "Thank Merlin you're awake," Blaise said in relief.

"I'm not dead..." It wasn't a question, more of a confused statement as Harry frowned, trying to figure out how that was even possible.

Blaise frowned back at Harry. "No, you're not,” he said simply. "Though it was a close call. Harry, do you remember what happened?" Blaise questioned. Harry chewed on his lower lip trying to think.

“I got into a duel...” Harry looked back at Blaise quickly. “Where's Ron?” he asked, sitting up on his elbows so he could reach for his glasses. Blaise grabbed his hand and gently pushed Harry back down to lay on the bed.

“Easy,” Blaise said softly. “Everything has been taken care of, for the most part at least,” the tan boy said soothingly, trying to keep Harry calm enough to remain lying down for a little longer.

Harry looked confused, squinting his eyes to try and see Blaise a bit better. “How has it all been taken care of?” he asked then, looked around as best he could while still lying down. “What time is it?” He looking back at Blaise, the tan boy sighed and let Harry's shoulders go.

“It's about seven thirty, February nineteenth,” Blaise said and waited for that information to sink in. The tan boy watched as Harry's brow creased in concentration as the smaller boy worked out that the date was a week and a half later than what it should have been. Blaise knew the second that Harry had worked it out; green eyes widened and the black haired boy tried to sit up again, but Blaise had been expecting that, gently grabbing Harry's shoulders and forcing him to remain lying down. “Don't move,” he ordered.

“I've been asleep for that long?” Harry asked staring up at Blaise with wide eyes. “That...why? I didn't think it was that bad. I mean...it was bad, but it wasn't any worse than any other time I lost control of my magic...” Harry said trying to figure out why he had been asleep for so long.

“Pomfrey thinks that you were forced into a healing sleep. Physically you were mostly fine, other than the fact that one of your lungs apparently collapsed, and the other one was in danger of collapsing as well,” Blaise explained watching as Harry lifted a hand to rub at his chest as if trying to feel the damage that had happened to his lungs. Blaise gently laid a hand over Harry's. “We want to figure out why this time was so different. I need you to tell me everything that happened,” Blaise requested, feeling a little bad about cornering Harry when he had only just woken up, but the smaller boy didn't seem to mind at all.

Harry nodded. “I was in a duel with McLaggen... he had Ron under the Imperious curse,” Harry explained, frowning. “Ron's okay now though, right?” Harry asked, unable to leave the topic of Ron alone; he didn't want to get his hopes to high, but Ron had been his first real friend, and it had hurt more than Harry admitted to have his friend turn his back on him again.

Blaise settled himself on the edge of Harry's bed looking at him for a moment before answering. “From what I have been told, he is fine; I haven't seen him personally, but from what Granger has said he's doing alright. I'm sure she will tell you all about it, when your fan club hears about you finally being awake,” Blaise teased and Harry couldn't help but pout.

“I do not have a fan club,” Harry huffed and pouted slightly, causing Blaise to laugh, before the tan boy leaned down to give Harry a quick kiss on the lips. He pulled back and smiled when he saw the blush that now colored Harry's cheeks.

“I am afraid that you do have a fan club, Harry,” Blaise teased, smiling even as Harry pouted again, “They've been in here nearly every day to visit you. At least until Draco got annoyed with them, and started throwing people out.”

Harry blinked. “Draco did that?” he asked getting a mental picture of the blond boy standing guard over his bed. “Where is Draco?” Harry asked trying to see if the blond was anywhere nearby.

“He's getting some rest at the moment. He'll be back when he wakes up I'm sure,” Blaise reassured him. “So why did you get into a duel with McLaggen?” Blaise asked, getting them back on topic.

Harry huffed and moved once again to sit up; Blaise tried to stop him again, only to have Harry shove his hand away. “If you want me to tell you what happened, I would like to sit up, or at least be able to put my glasses on,” Harry said irritably. Blaise allowed him to sit up and even handed Harry his glasses.

“I don't want you to push yourself too much,” Blaise admitted and Harry rolled his eyes.

“Now you're sounding like Pomfrey. Nothing's going to happen from me just sitting up in bed,” Harry pointed out, and Blaise just nodded, shifting from the bed to sit back in the chair he had been occupying before.

“I don't really mean to hover,” Blaise said running a hand through his hair. “I'm just really worried about all this, about what happened. Harry, you had stopped breathing when Draco and I finally managed to get to you.” Blaise leaned back in his chair to look up at the ceiling. “I don't know how long you hadn't been breathing, but it's been a long while since I've felt that kind of fear,” Blaise explained looking back at Harry again. “We woke up, and I felt your magic, but you weren't in your room. We had no idea where you were, only that your magic was going crazy, and you were in pain.”

Harry chewed on his lower lip, looking down at his lap feeling more than a little guilty for just leaving like that without telling Blaise or Draco, even though he had had no intention to get into a fight with anyone, and had even taken measures to avoid anyone who might start something. “I tried to end the duel as fast as I could,” Harry said softly still not looking at Blaise. “It's not easy keeping my magic in check when I'm trying to use it at the same time. I didn't want to hurt anyone... so I didn't use anything stronger than a stunner... but even that, when I used it, it sent Ron flying back about ten feet.” Harry chanced a look at Blaise; really looking at him now Harry could see that the tan boy looked tired, and if it was true that he had been asleep for a week and a half, Harry wondered how much sleep Blaise had been able to get. Draco obviously hadn't gotten much if the blond by had been forced to go and get some rest.

“Why didn't you just get out of there after you sent the stunner?” Blaise asked when Harry had been silent for a while, though he thought that he could already guess what the answer was going to be before Harry even answered.

“I couldn't just leave Ron there, not under the Imperious curse... he wouldn't have left me like that,” Harry said, shifting further up on the bed so that he could sit more comfortably. Blaise was half out of his seat to stop Harry from moving before the smaller boy glared at him. “I'm not getting out of bed, Blaise.” Harry said. “I feel too sore to really want to get up and walk around just yet,” Harry admitted. This only caused Blaise to look more concerned.

“You're still in pain?” Blaise asked surprised by that.

“Not pain, just sore... I don't know if it's from the Cruciatus, I was sore after the last time I had it used on me too.” Harry looked thoughtful for a moment. “I could also just be sore because of my magic. I don't think the curse was even held long enough to do much of anything, and my magic went crazy almost immediately after. Though it could just be from laying in bed for over a week...” Harry trailed off when he noticed that Blaise was staring at him. “What?”

“You had the Cruciatus curse used on you?” Blaise asked and Harry nodded slowly still frowning.

“Yeah, but it wasn't that bad-” Harry was cut off when Blaise stood up suddenly.

“I'll be right back, Harry, stay in bed, and don't move,” Blaise ordered and before Harry could even ask where he was going, Blaise had moved around the curtain that was around Harry's bed, blocking the small boy's view of the hospital wing. He heard the door open and close. Now left alone and more confused than anything, Harry sighed and leaned back against his bed. He really was sore and didn't feel like getting out of bed, but the way Blaise had just run off like that confused and even annoyed Harry slightly.

Harry had only just started debating with himself about getting out of bed, when he heard the door to the hospital wing open again, a moment later Blaise came back around the curtain. “Where did you go?” Harry asked.

“No one knew you had been put under the Cruciatus.” Blaise explained, taking his seat next to Harry's bed once again.

“I was trying to tell you that it wasn't that bad,” Harry huffed. “And you just ran off and didn't even listen to me. I was only under the curse for about a second,” Harry explained.

“Any amount of time under that curse can cause damage,” a familiar voice said. Harry's head snapped up and he stared wide eyed at his potions professor.

“Snape! You're alive?” Harry blurted the question out unable to stop himself, unable to hide his shock.

“I am sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Potter-” Snape began but Harry rushed to cut him off.

“I'm not,” Harry told him, because as much as he might not like his professor he was relieved to see the man still alive. Ignoring the glare the older man gave him, Harry rushed to explain himself before his teacher could get to mad. “I was worried, I had a nightmare and Voldemort killed you... I thought it might have been real,” Harry admitted, looking down at his lap now, unable to think of anything else to say he asked, “Um...how did the meeting with Voldemort go?” Harry wasn't expecting an answer to such a stupid question, so he was surprised when he received one.

“It went slightly better than expected, but that is not for us to discuss now.” Snape pulled a small potion vial out of his pocket. “I want you to take this.”

Harry lifted his head to look at the small vial that Snape was holding out towards him. “What's that?” Harry asked, not willing to take the potion from his teacher until he knew exactly what it was.

“This is a mild potion that will help repair any nerve damage that you may have sustained while under the curse,” the potions master explained and Harry nodded.

“Honestly though, I was only under the curse for about a second, most of my soreness right now is because of holding in my own magic for so long,” Harry explained, once again wondering why no one was listening to him.

“It is still a good idea to drink it,” Snape insisted, still holding the vial out towards Harry. Sighing, the small boy took it, looking at the contents of the vial. “Drink,” Snape ordered and Harry let out another sigh before downing the potion. Snape took the vial back when Harry handed it to him. “Now that you are awake, there are a few things that I think we need to discuss. I expect you to be in my office tomorrow, after breakfast.” Snape smirked at the glare that Harry sent his way.

“Can't promise that if Pomfrey won't let me out of here,” Harry shot back.

“You will be there, or you will have detention,” Snape insisted.

“You can't do that! It's not fair threatening me with detention. If Pomfrey won't even let me out of here...” Harry trailed off, knowing full well that he would be able to sneak out of here if he really wanted to.

 

“Life is hardly ever fair, Potter. Tomorrow morning, or detention,” Snape said again, before Harry could make any more protests about how unfair it was, Blaise stepped in.

“We'll be there,” Blaise agreed, narrowing his eyes at Snape. The potions master nodded once before he turned and left the two boys alone again. Harry was staring at Blaise, waiting until the tan boy had turned to look at him.

“I don't want to talk to him, Blaise!” Harry said, remembering full well Snape's promise about talking to Harry about the Dursley's.

“It's not that bad, Harry, Professor Snape also requested that Draco and I join you tomorrow as well. We think he's going to tell us about the meeting with the Dark Lord,” Blaise said.

Harry shook his head leaning back against his pillows and closing his eyes. “I'll be lucky if that's all he wants to talk about,” he complained. “And what if Pomfrey doesn't even let me out of here by tomorrow? I've only just woken up, she'll probably try keeping me in here for another week.”

“I get the feeling you'd be sneaking out of here tomorrow regardless,” Blaise pointed out.

“Me? Sneak out of the hospital wing before I'm allowed to leave? Where would you ever get the idea that I would do something like that?” Harry asked,. Blaise couldn't help but laugh at the look of false innocence that Harry was giving him, and Harry couldn't keep a straight face long either.

“I think the only way to keep you in here long term is for you to be unconscious, or for someone to tie you to the bed,” a new voice said and Harry looked up to see Draco walk around the curtain.

“Oh good, you're here! I was subjected to all forms of torture while you weren't here to help me,” Harry said, watching Draco walk around to on the other side of the bed.

“And what kind of 'torture' were you subjected to?” Draco questioned.

“Snape was here, he made me drink some nasty potion, threatened me with detention even if I'm not let out of here tomorrow, and now Blaise is accusing me of trying to escape before I'm allowed.” Harry was grinning even as Draco shook his head chuckling.

“I am sorry that I wasn't here, but I was forced to go and get some rest; I've only just woken up,” Draco informed him and Harry looked him over.

“No you haven't,” Harry accused and Draco raised a blond eyebrow at him. “I've seen you after you've just woken up, you look too neat and tidy to have just woken up. You took your time to look presentable before coming up here to see me,” Harry said with a cheeky grin and Draco rolled his eyes.

“Yes, well forgive me for not wanting to walk around looking like I have a nest growing on my head.” Draco gave Harry's hair a pointed look.

“Hey, I like my nest,” Harry said with a grin, laughing when Draco rolled his eyes.

“If I didn't think you would look ridiculous, I would just shave your head while you were sleeping,” Draco commented, chuckling when Harry's hands flew up to cover the messy tufts of hair; Blaise laughed as well. The three boys fell into easy conversation until Pomfrey came to check on Harry, when the nurse scolded Blaise for not informing her that Harry had woken up. 

It wasn't long before Harry started to feel tired again, though was fighting sleep as he was dreading the conversation he would be having with Snape the following day. Seeing this, Blaise and Draco moved another one of the hospital beds closer to Harry's, merging them like they had done over a month ago, when Harry and Draco had been stuck in the hospital wing, before climbing in with him.

With the comforting presence of Blaise and Draco on either side of him, Harry was unable to fight off sleep any longer. He fell asleep curled up close to Blaise's chest, with Draco holding him protectively from behind. It was as he drifted off to sleep that Harry decided that no matter what life threw at him, it would be worth it, as long as he could keep this safe feeling that his boyfriends provided him.

\------------------x

Harry stared at the door that lead to Snape's office; he had been standing there for nearly five minutes already. Blaise and Draco were supposed to be here with him, but Harry had left them sleeping in the hospital wing. Though he got the feeling that they would catch up to him soon enough, meaning he was wasting time just standing here staring at the door.

Scolding himself for being scared, Harry raised his hand and knocked on the door. The sound seemed to echo loudly in the hall around him and Harry bit his lower lip as he waited. More minutes passed and Harry wondered if it was still too early for even Snape to be awake; he debated if he should knock again or just go back to the hospital wing and come back with Blaise and Draco at a more reasonable hour.

Harry sighed and was half turned away from the door, when it opened. Turning back quickly, Harry looked up at Snape, who was scowling down at him. “Potter, I did not require your presence here until after breakfast,” Snape informed him.

“I know, sir...” Harry said, looking down and taking a deep breath. “You said before you left, that when you returned from talking to Voldemort that we were going to talk about my relatives,” Harry said glancing back up at Snape.

The potions master sighed and opened his door further, allowing Harry to enter his office. When the small boy was inside, Snape closed the door and walked around to sit at his desk, motioning for Harry to take the seat that was placed in front of him. “I did say we would be talking about those people, however, because of recent events I decided that it might be better if you had Draco and Mr. Zabini here with you,” Snape informed him and Harry frowned.

“I don't want them here,” Harry admitted. “I don't even want to talk about this.”

Snape raised an eyebrow at the small boy. “Why do you refuse to talk about it? Why deny what they did to you?”

Harry lowered his head to stare at his lap, once again chewing on his lower lip as he tried to think of the best way to explain his thinking. “Admitting it makes it real.” Harry finally settled on saying, it had never bothered him all that much how the Dursley's treated him, it was just the way things were.

“It is real, regardless if you admit it or not,” Snape informed him.

“I know that!” Harry snapped clenching his hands into fists. “But it was never real to me. I know the way they treat me isn't right, but I was able to ignore it mostly. At least until everyone started throwing it in my face, insisting that I talk about it.” Harry was now looking at Snape, his eyes narrowed.

“If I recall, you are the one who showed me all your memories,” the potions master reminded the boy sitting in front of him.

Harry could feel his anger rising as he continued to glare at Snape. “I didn't mean to do that, I only wanted you to leave me alone.” Harry tried to keep a hold on his anger, he was the one who had come here to talk to Snape alone after all.

Snape raised an eyebrow at Harry, studying the boy for a moment before speaking. “You claim that you did not mean to turn my own mental attack around, and direct it right back at me. I find that difficult to believe. You may not know exactly what you did, but do not lie to me and tell me that you did not mean it.”

Harry stood up angrily. “I didn't mean it! You kept roaming around in my head, forcing me to remember things I didn't want to! LOOKING at things I didn't want you to see!”

“And yet I know every dark secret you've ever had in that head of yours,” Snape said, seemingly not effected at all by Harry's anger.

“It was the only way to get you to leave me alone!” Harry insisted.

“So you forced every painful memory at me, in an attempt to get me to 'leave you alone'.” Snape's voice was just as calm as it had been since Harry had walked into his office. “You say that, and still insist that you did not mean to do it.”

Harry shook his head, unable to form the words again, unable to deny that he hadn't meant it because in the moment he had meant it, he had wanted to show Snape how much he was hurting.

Snape waited to see if Harry was going to say anything but when the small boy remained silent the potions master continued speaking. “Your anger with me is what fueled that attack,” Snape informed him. Harry remained standing there with his head lowered, fists still clenched at his sides as he held in his anger. Snape considered it a good thing that Harry's magic hadn't started acting up yet. “I believe that the only thing that you did not mean to do at that time, was show me so many of your memories. Once you had started the attack, you couldn't stop it.” Snape watched Harry closely for any kind of response.

“...I never wanted anyone to know...” Harry admitted softly. “And out of everyone who could have ever found out...it just had to be YOU.”

“I am not very fond of this situation myself,” Snape replied. “However, child abuse is not something I will ever allow to continue. If you sit back down, we will discuss your relatives.”

“Even if I talk about it, nothing is going to change,” Harry said.

“That is where you are wrong; there are multiple plans in motion to ensure that you will never return to those abusive people again,” Snape said and Harry just stared at him. It seemed strange to have Snape of all people saying those words to him but Harry moved to take his seat again, silently wishing that he had actually waited for Blaise and Draco, instead of coming down here to talk to Snape on his own.

“I don't know what I should talk about first,” Harry admitted softly.

“Why don't we start with the cupboard I saw a lot of?” Snape suggested and Harry nodded taking a deep breath and started talking. It was hard at first, even with the knowledge that Snape already knew everything he was saying, but none the less, Harry started giving his teacher details that flashes of memories couldn't have shown.

TBC


	23. Chapter 23

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 23

Harry felt drained as he slowly made his way back to his dorm. He hadn't thought that just talking, answering questions, would have left him feeling so raw and exposed. Though he supposed it was his own fault; he could have talked to Blaise and Draco, even Sirius, but he had agreed to talk to the potions professor instead. Even now Harry couldn't figure out why he had chosen the greasy git, though Harry thought that it might be because Snape had already seen every horrible thing that Harry had ever tried to hide.

Whatever the reason, Harry had spent nearly two hours in Snape's office talking about the Dursleys, and how he was treated by them. In the end it had been Snape who had put a stop to their discussion, mostly because the professor still had a class to teach. The potions master had insisted on giving Harry a calming draft, even though Harry hadn't felt like he needed it. He pocketed the vial, explaining he wanted to eat something before taking it; Snape had glared at him sternly for a moment but had thankfully not forced the issue. Harry, however, had then started the walk up to his dorm, with no real intention of taking the calming draft, or even eating. 

All he wanted to do at the moment was crawl into bed and stay there. However, that plan was quickly forgotten as Harry entered the common room to find Blaise and Draco waiting for him, the blond boy sitting on the sofa, while Blaise was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. Both of them seemed to notice his presence in the room at the same time, as Draco looked up from the book he had been reading, and Blaise stopped pacing to turn and look at him.

Blaise was across the room quickly, pulling Harry into a tight hug. The smaller boy blinked in confusion as he was pulled against Blaise's chest, though he accepted the small bit of comfort he got from the tan boy. That was until Draco pulled him away, turning him so that he was now facing the blond.

“Where in Merlin's name have you been?” Draco snapped, looking him up and down as if making sure he hadn't been injured in the two hours he'd been missing.

“I... I went to talk to Snape.” Harry blinked, looking from Draco to Blaise. “You both knew that he wanted to see me this morning,” he said with a frown.

“Yes, we knew that, but we hadn't expected you to wake up and sneak off on your own again, after what happened last time,” Blaise pointed out. Harry lowered his head, feeling guilty for leaving the Hospital Wing without waking Blaise or Draco; he had known that they wouldn't be happy about it, but Harry had really wanted to talk to Snape alone.

“I'm sorry...” Harry chewed on his lower lip. “I just... I wanted to get the talk with Snape over with,” Harry admitted.

"Professor Snape wanted to talk with all of us as well,” Blaise pointed out. “You could have waited for us, or you could have woken us up and we would have gone with you," Blaise continued. “You had us really worried, Harry. Do you even understand that you nearly died before? As far as we know you're still recovering from that. What if you had had another magical disaster because of something Snape said?” Blaise questioned. “You had actually stopped breathing when Draco and I found you last time.” Blaise seemed to be unaware of the affect he was having on Harry, who still had his head lowered.

Draco, however, could feel the guilt and anger coming from Harry, not to mention how pale Harry had looked when he had come into the room. "Blaise, now is not the time to interrogate Harry about why he ran off on his own again," Draco said in an attempt to get Blaise to back off and give Harry some space; it worked for the most part as Blaise now turned his attention towards Draco.

"I'm not interrogating him! Snape said that he wanted to talk with all of us today. I, for one, would like to know exactly what he told the Dark Lord about-”

"He wanted to talk to me about my relatives! Not Voldemort!" Harry shouted, cutting off whatever Blaise had been about to say. The tan boy stared in surprise at Harry; he had seen the smaller boy angry before but it had never really been directed at him. "I went without you two because, honestly, the last thing I wanted was an audience while I confirmed how pathetic and useless I really am!" Harry was panting after his sudden out-burst and his eyes stung as tears started forming but he refused to let them fall.

"Harry, you're not-" Blaise started but Harry cut him off again.

"You don't know me! You know nothing about me; you hardly knew I existed before this bond was formed!" Harry backed away when Blaise reached out for him, the smaller boy shaking his head quickly. He didn't want to be touched right now; he was still feeling far too exposed from the talk with Snape. “I'm a useless waste of space, I can't do anything right. Even in a world meant for freaks, I'm still the freak,” Harry said softly. It was Draco who moved forward then, pulling Harry close and feeling the smaller boy trembling.

“Harry, ignore Blaise, he's an idiot who doesn't understand,” Draco said softly but Harry shook his head again, pulling away from the blond.

“No, he wants to know why I went to talk to Snape alone; he wants to know why I won't tell him about my relatives. If he wants to get to know the 'real me' then I'll tell him,” Harry babbled almost hysterically. “I'll tell him how much of a useless waste of space I am, how I'm never good enough no matter how much I try, how my room was a cupboard under the stairs until I started getting my Hogwarts letters, how I get locked up like an animal...” Harry kept going on, until he felt his head being lifted so he was now looking into violet eyes of Blaise.

“Harry, that's enough,” Blaise said softly as he looked into Harry’s teary eyes. “I'm really sorry, you don't have to tell me anymore. I was just really worried about you, and waking up to find you missing again, it scared me, Harry,” Blaise explained, feeling horrible that he had pushed Harry over the edge like that. “I was scared, and upset that you would have just gone off like that again without waking up either me or Draco,” Blaise said looking into the wide green eyes.

“...but you said you wanted to know...” Harry pointed out and Blaise nodded.

“I do want to know, but not right now, not like this.” Blaise wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, and looked to Draco wondering what he could do to fix what he'd just done.

“Harry, did you get a calming draft from Professor Snape?” the blond boy asked. He was sure that the professor would have given Harry one if the conversation had been as bad as he suspected, but it was clear from Harry’s state that the smaller boy hadn’t taken one yet. 

“I don't want to take it...” Harry admitted, though right now he couldn't remember his reasoning for not wanting it in the first place.

“It does help,” Draco prompted. “Even if you think you don't need it, it does help,” the blond boy said. Harry nodded slowly and removed the small vial that Snape had given him from his pocket, pulling away from Blaise so he could look up at the tan boy.

“I'm sorry I worried you... I really didn't mean to, I just... I don't...” Harry tried to explain his reasoning. Blaise, however, having never gone through the pain of having an abusive family, couldn't really understand how terrifying it was having to tell people; though he was trying to understand. Harry could see now what Draco had meant before; Blaise was protective, and while he couldn't fully understand, he would do his best to protect both his bond-mates.

“Harry, you don't need to apologise,” Blaise told him. “Just, please know that we are here for you. Even if Draco can understand your situation better than I can, I still want to help,” Blaise said and Harry couldn't help but smile up at the Italian. “Now, take that calming draft, and I'll go see about getting breakfast for us,” Blaise said but Harry shook his head.

“I'm not hungry... I just want to go lay down I think,” the smaller boy admitted. Blaise reluctantly let him go and nodded.

“There will be something for you to eat when you're ready,” he assured the black-haired boy, who nodded slowly before walking passed Blaise and Draco, heading down the hall to his room and closing the door behind him. Blaise let out a long sigh when he heard Harry's door shut. “I guess I really messed that one up,” Blaise said, looking at Draco.

“No more than you messed things up with me when you found out about my father,” Draco said with a shrug of his shoulder. “You've got to learn that you can't push people like that. If Harry really did just spend the last two hours talking with my godfather, and with you interrogating him as soon as he walked in the door, I'm not surprised he snapped like that.” Draco sighed, running a hand through his blond hair. “We'll let him rest for a little while, I'll check on him in about an hour.”

“We could always ask Granger to come and talk to him,” Blaise suggested, smiling a bit when Draco glared at him. “Just a thought.” Blaise went over and sat on the sofa, letting out a long sigh, thinking about what Harry had said. “Draco, do you really think that Harry slept in a cupboard?” Blaise asked, looking over at the blond.

“From what little we know about his relatives so far, I wouldn't put it past them to be honest. All the more reason to make sure that he doesn't have to go back there this summer.” Draco came and sat next to Blaise, resting his head against the tan boy's shoulder.

“I received a letter from my mother,” Blaise informed his blond boyfriend. “She wants me to come home for Easter break, and has demanded that I bring you and Harry as well,” he said, glancing at Draco, who didn't move or say anything in response. “She also told me that your mother is doing well; no one's gone looking for her there,” Blaise continued; however, Draco still didn't respond and Blaise frowned down at the blond boy that was resting against him.

“I don't get it,” Draco finally spoke sitting up to look at Blaise. “How does Harry do this, continue on like everything is normal? Everything right now is as far from normal as it could possibly get. The Dark Lord knows about the bond by now, my mother is in hiding, I have no clue how my father is at the moment, and my godfather is going back and forth between Dumbledore and the Dark Lord, while trying to keep us safe as well... How am I supposed to sit here and talk about Easter break as if none of this is going on?” Draco asked, looking at Blaise, though he didn't expect the tan boy to really have the answer; Draco wanted to know that he wasn't the only one who felt like he was being stretched too thin.

Blaise lifted a hand up to cup Draco's cheek. “You do it by relying on me, and relying on Harry. We are in this bond together Draco, all three of us. And while I can't promise that nothing bad is going to happen, I will do whatever I can to make sure that you and Harry are safe; that is a promise that I made to you a long time ago, and even though we are now with Harry as well, that is a promise I still plan on keeping,” Blaise said, smiling at Draco as the blond haired boy looked up at him with wide eyes.

“I still don't understand how I can just forget about everything that's going on... I hate just sitting here not knowing what's going to happen. I feel like I have no control over anything in my life anymore and I hate it...” Draco admitted and Blaise nodded his understanding.

“There is one thing that you still have control over,” Blaise whispered before he leaned down and pressed his lips to Draco's. It only took a moment for Draco to start kissing the tan boy back, shifting so he could wrap his arms around Blaise's neck more easily, before deepening the kiss. He let out a small moan when he felt Blaise's hand on the back of his head, fingers lacing through the blond strands before grabbing them gently, causing Draco to gasp. Blaise took advantage of that open mouth, pulling another moan from Draco, this one louder than the first.

Draco, however, wasn't about to let Blaise have control of the kiss that easily; moving his hands until they were resting against the broader chest of his boyfriend, Draco pushed Blaise to lay down on the sofa, following him down as to not break the kiss.

Blaise groaned when he felt Draco on top of him, the blond Slytherin easily taking control of what Blaise had started. Though the tan boy knew that he could easily turn things around, he allowed Draco to have the control, knowing that's what his boyfriend needed at the moment. Gripping the blond hair a little tighter as the kiss grew more heated, both boys loosing themselves in each other for the moment as this was something they both needed.

\----------------- x

Ron stood outside the door to the Great Hall; it was the first time in memory that he really didn't have much of an appetite. Though he really hadn't had much of one in the past two weeks, not since everything that Cormac had been doing had been discovered. Most people now knew that Cormac had been using Ron to not only stir things up in Gryffindor tower, but to get others under the Imperius Curse as well.

Ron still felt physically sick when he thought about it, how easily he had been able to cast the curse on Seamus and Dean and, even though his fellow class mates knew that he too had been under the Imperius curse, they were still keeping their distance from him. In fact, most of Gryffindor tower was; even with the whole story having landed in the Prophet three days after the questioning had finished only half of them had believed that Ron was just as much a victim. The other half remained convinced that Ron had finally just acted on the fact that he had always been jealous of Harry and decided that he could just get rid of him.

The questioning had been done under the effect of Veritaserum; for three days Ron had been given the potion, which made his mouth feel as if it were full of cotton, three days of being asked questions by Dumbledore, the Aurors and even the Minister himself. Cormac had, of course, been asked questions as well and, after three long days, the whole story had finally been pieced together.

It had been discovered that a ministry official, by the name of Dolores Umbridge, had offered Cormac a position in the ministry once he was out of Hogwarts, which seemed rather suspicious in the circumstances; though it hadn't been stated whether or not Cormac had been put under the Imperius curse, or whether the young man had been acting of his own accord. However, Umbridge had been arrested, and Cormac was waiting in a holding cell at the Ministry for a trial.

Ron counted himself lucky that he hadn't found himself in one of the holding cells. There were two things that had played in his favor; the fact that he was still only sixteen, whereas Cormac was seventeen and legally an adult; and the fact that Dumbledore had come to Ron's defense. Ron was sure that it was Dumbledore's influence that had not only kept him from being arrested along with Cormac, but also made sure that the red-head would not be expelled.

“I do believe that our younger brother has forgotten how to open a door.” A voice from behind Ron had the red-head turning around to face his twin brothers.

“Leave me alone,” Ron said pushing past them as he walked away from the Great Hall; he wasn't hungry anyway and he was tired of being stared at constantly. Ron felt a pang of guilt as he wondered if this is what Harry felt like every year.

“Ron,” George said as he caught up with his younger brother, grabbing Ron's arm and pulling him to a stop. Ron glanced over his shoulder but didn't say anything as he looked at George. Fred came over, standing on the other side of Ron, but neither of the twins said anything and Ron sighed pulling his arm away from George.

“Stop staring at me. If you've got nothing to say, I'm going down to the lake,” Ron said, turning to walk away again but this time Fred stopped him.

“It's nice to have you almost back to normal and all,” Fred started and glanced over at George.

“But something is still wrong because you've hardly eaten anything all week,” George continued with a small grin forming.

“And that's not normal for you, as you could usually eat half the food at Gryffindor table just by yourself.” Fred was also grinning but Ron just found it annoying.

“Why the bloody hell do either of you care?” Ron snapped looking from one twin to the other. “I was fighting off Cormac since before Halloween, and none of you noticed. None of you did anything then, so why do you care now?” Ron demanded glaring at his brothers.

“Because you're our brother,” Fred and George said together.

Fred let out a long sigh. “We may pick on you, tease you, find you to be an annoyance sometimes, but you're our kid brother, and well...”

“We haven't really done our job as older brothers, if we let you get into that much trouble. We just want to make sure you're okay,” George said. The grins were gone from their faces and Ron frowned, having never really seen either of his brothers this serious before, and he realised that he must have really worried them a lot if they were acting like this.

Ron finally grinned at them. “I'm a Weasley, even if I'm not okay now, I will be,” Ron said.

“Good!” George nodded. “Now that that has been taken care of, have you been to see Harry yet?” George demanded.

“I highly doubt that Zabini or Malfoy would let me near him at the moment. They weren't really all that happy to see me two weeks ago,” Ron grumbled.

“Yes, well that's not much of an excuse to not go see your best mate,” George sighed.

“As it just so happens though, we are on our way to visit him right now!” Fred grabbed Ron's arm, while George grabbed the other and together they dragged him to the Hospital Wing. All three of them knew that things really weren't okay but the news about what had happened to Ron, having been under the Imperius curse for months and none of them knowing, it had hit the entire family hard. However, Ron was right, they were all Weasleys; when something kicked them down they just got back up; it was how their family had survived this long.  
As the three red heads reached the Hospital Wing, they saw Hermione coming out frowning. Fred let go of Ron's arm and hurried over to her before either of his brothers could do anything. “What's wrong?” Fred asked and Hermione looked up at him.

“Madam Pomfrey said that Harry left the hospital wing early this morning,” Hermione said.

“He’s awake? Isn’t that a good thing?” Fred asked, confused by Hermione’s reaction. It had been two weeks they had been waiting for Harry to wake up and despite Madam Pomfrey’s assurances that Harry was going to be fine, they couldn’t help but worry. 

“Yes, but he shouldn’t be out of the Medical Wing yet, he’s still recovering,” Hermione insisted, sounding worried.

“So what, he just woke up and just wandered out of there? Malfoy and Zabini just let him do that?” Fred asked, frowning now as well.

“Apparently not; they were still sleeping when Madam Pomfrey came to check on Harry and were as surprised by his absence as she was. I was just going to stop by their rooms, see if they were there before I decide if I should worry or not,” Hermione informed the twin and Fred nodded.

“George and I brought Ron here to see Harry, though I suppose we're going to have to set up an actual meeting if we want those two to talk,” Fred sighed.

“Or you could just mind your own bloody business,” Ron said, pulling his arm away from George and moving out of his brother’s reach.

“Ron, what happened wasn't-”

“It was my fault!” Ron snapped at Hermione before she could even finish. “Yes, I was under that stupid curse, but I was aware of everything I was doing, I knew what I was doing. I attacked Harry more than once this year! I accused him of killing Cedric!”

Hermione sighed shaking her head. “You would have never accused Harry of something like that if you hadn't been under the Imperius! For once will you stop being so stubborn? No one blames you for what happened, and Harry most definitely won't blame you either.” Hermione sighed again. “You don't have to come with us to see Harry but, Ron, please try and talk to him? I know he's missed you.”

Ron looked away from her. “I'll think about it,” he agreed, not looking back at any of them he turned and walked away. Hermione moved to go after him but Fred stopped her.

“Just let him be for now,” he said. “Ron's always been like this, he prefers to handle things on his own,” Fred said, looking down at Hermione. “You still going to see Harry?”

“Yeah, I want to make sure he's okay,” Hermione said, looking at the twins. “Are you two coming along?”

“Nah, we've got class to get to,” George informed her.

“We'll catch up with you later,” Fred promised and Hermione nodded, walking down the hall with the twins before they had to go their separate ways.

\---------------x

Harry had only remained in his room for half an hour, deciding that taking the calming draft was probably a good idea. He didn't feel completely better but he felt like hiding in his room was a bit of an overreaction to things. So he made his way back out to the common room, hoping to find Blaise and Draco there so that he could apologise to them again for making them worry so much. He really did feel bad that he had gone down to Snape's office without telling them, knowing full well that they wouldn't be happy about it.

As he entered the common room he saw Blaise sitting on the sofa, Draco snuggled up to his chest while the tan boy ran his fingers through the silky blond hair. Harry debated about backing up and going back to his room, feeling like he was interrupting a private moment, but when Draco lifted his head and looked right at him, Harry bit his lower lip and walked further into the room.

“Feeling better?” Draco asked, sitting up a bit straighter. Harry nodded his head once, looking from Draco to Blaise, the tan boy cracking an eye open to look at Harry but nothing more.

“I am feeling a little better,” Harry admitted, turning his attention back to Draco. “The calming draft really did help.”

Draco smirked. “I told you it would. Blaise hasn't gone to get food yet, were you hungry?”

Harry shook his head. “No, I'm still not really all that hungry... I just... I wanted to say sorry again, I really didn't mean to worry you and Blaise like that,” Harry said softly. Draco sighed, standing a little so he could reach Harry's arm and pull the smaller boy over to sit on the sofa between the two them.

“It was terrifying, Harry, when we found you before... and this morning when I woke up, I could feel that you were upset, and we couldn't find you, Harry,” Draco explained.

“I know, I just… I didn't want an audience. I knew what Snape wanted to talk about, he told me before he went to see Voldemort. I know that you and Blaise want to know about my relatives as well... I just...” Harry sighed closing his eyes as he tried to think of the best way to put what he was thinking into words.

“You could have still told us where you were going, and explained that you didn't want us there,” Blaise pointed out and Harry chuckled.

“After I told you two that I was supposed to start potions class with Snape, you and Draco both insisted that I wasn't to be alone with Snape ever again,” Harry reminded them. “Neither of you trust him after the last Occlumency lesson I had with him a while back.”

Blaise smiled. “I can't argue with that, so instead of dealing with us telling you that you couldn't go, you decided it was better to sneak off before we could stop you.”

“Something like that.” Harry nodded. “I really didn't mean to worry you, but it was better than you two deciding on your own what I could or couldn't handle,” Harry said. “I've been handling things like this on my own my entire life and now all of a sudden both of you are coming across as all protective... and while I don't necessarily hate it, I'm not used to it either,” Harry explained, hoping that the two Slytherins understood where he was coming from.

Blaise slipped a hand around Harry's waist, pulling him so that the small boy was sitting on his lap. “We'll try and back off a bit with the over protectiveness, but I can't make any promises,” he said resting his chin on Harry's shoulder.

“How about we make a deal,” Draco offered, as he shifted closer, his hand moving to rest on Harry's knee. “You tell us when you're going off on your own, so we know where you are in case something happens again, and we'll do our best not to stop you from going,” Draco said. Harry turned his attention to the blond boy, thinking about the proposal before nodding slowly.

“I think...maybe that could work? At least, we could try, I suppose,” Harry said with a small smile.

“So no more sneaking off on your own?” Blaise asked, his head still resting on Harry's shoulder.

“No more,” Harry promised, and Blaise smirked turning his head slightly so that he could kiss the side of Harry's neck. Blaise chuckled when he felt the smaller boy shiver. He nipped at Harry's neck before kissing it again.

Draco sat next to them, watching Harry with a look of amusement; the smaller boy's mouth opened, gasping when Blaise found a rather sensitive spot. The tan boy concentrated on that one spot and Harry's eyes drifted half-closed as he moaned softly clearly enjoying what Blaise was doing.

Draco shifted closer, not content to just sit and watch Blaise and Harry. The blond boy took Harry's chin, turning the smaller boy's head so he could capture those lips in a deep kiss. Harry's eyes widened in surprise before slowly sliding shut as he lost himself to the sensation of being trapped between Blaise and Draco.

Harry couldn't quite figure out how he had gotten into this situation. He had only come out here to apologies to his bond-mates and was now sitting in Blaise's lap and being kissed by Draco. Harry was unsure of what he should be doing but each new spot that Blaise found sent shivers down his spine, causing Harry to wiggle around on the tan boy's lap, moaning into Draco's mouth as the blond slid his tongue into Harry's welcoming mouth. Harry found that he couldn't concentrate on anything other than what his two bond-mates were doing to him.

Harry shifted around slightly on Blaise's lap again, his back resting against Blaise's chest, and the tan boy chuckled against Harry's neck, one of his arms around Harry's slim waist pulling the smaller boy closer and limiting how much Harry could move around now. His free hand moved to Harry's front, slowly rubbing at Harry's stomach before slipping under the loose shirt that Harry was wearing. Blaise heard Harry let out small whimper, so Blaise didn't move his hand up any further, his fingers ghosting over the skin of Harry's stomach, feeling the muscles twitch under the light touches.

Harry was torn between enjoying and wanting to stop what Blaise was doing, but let out another small whimper when Blaise's hand inched slightly further up, and pressed his own hand over Blaise's larger one to keep him going any further. Harry let out another gasp and moaned when he felt Draco's hand, that had been resting on his knee, slowly moving up his thigh. Harry grabbed that too and stopped its movement as well, a small whimper escaping him as he arched his back slightly. Feeling overwhelmed at the moment, the smaller boy broke the kiss with Draco.

“...wait...” Harry gasped, putting one hand on Draco's chest stopping the blond from kissing him again. However, Blaise continued to kiss and bite his neck, causing more shivers to travel down Harry's spine. “Blaise, wait!” Harry said pulling away as much as he could and Blaise lifted his head looking at Harry, taking note of the flushed face and the wide green eyes.

“Too fast?” Blaise asked and Harry nodded slowly.

“A little... maybe... I don't know...” Harry turned his head to look at Blaise; the tan boy smiled at him, removing his hand from Harry's shirt and cupping his cheek.

“Then we'll slow down a little,” he promised, pulling Harry into a deep kiss while Draco moved to attack the other side of Harry's neck. Harry let out another small whimper, unsure about how this was slowing down, but there were no more roaming hands trying to get up his shirt, or on his thigh, so Harry decided that this was okay and started kissing Blaise back. A hand was on the back of his head, fingers gripping his hair gently as Blaise forced Harry to tilt his head slightly giving Draco better access to Harry's neck, while the tan boy deepened the kiss.

Draco continued kissing and sucking on Harry's neck, moving up until he found an extremely sensitive spot just behind Harry's ear that had the smaller boy's hands grabbing onto Blaise as if he were trying to steady himself. Both Blaise and Draco were enjoying the gasps and small moans they were pulling from Harry. Draco's hands settled themselves on Harry's hips smirking against the black haired boy's neck every time he felt Harry shifting.

Blaise broke the kiss with Harry, and moved back down to kiss at his neck again, chuckling when Harry shivered and moaned. “Your even more sensitive than Draco,” Blaise commented as he pulled back to look at Harry, flushed cheeks, swollen lips, his hair far messier than it had been and his green eyes slightly glazed over.

Blinking slowly, Harry stared at Blaise as he tried to get his mind to catch up with everything. “...is that a good thing?” Harry asked looking at Blaise.

“That depends,” Draco said pulling away from Harry's neck, satisfied to see a red mark there. “Are you enjoying yourself?” Draco questioned, one of his hands slipping from Harry's hips moving around to grope Harry's bum causing the smaller boy to jump in surprise before smacking Draco's hand.

“No one said you could touch that,” Harry said, shifting around so that he was now straddling Blaise's lap; this way he could look at Blaise but also keep an eye on Draco in case the blond tried to grope him again.

“I think Harry is enjoying himself,” Blaise commented, his hands moving to hold Harry's hips as he leaned in for another kiss; Harry leaned in too, meeting him halfway, deciding that he really did enjoy the kissing. Blaise groaned when he felt Harry responding more to the kiss this time. 

Draco moved to start marking the back of Harry's neck, feeling the smaller boy shiver and Draco had to agree with Blaise, Harry was extremely sensitive, and the blond boy wanted to find every spot that would cause Harry to shiver and moan. However, their fun was cut far too short when there was a loud knock on the door. Draco was determined to ignore it, however, sliding his hand around Harry's front, his fingers lifting Harry's shirt just enough so that he could touch the skin hidden underneath. Draco was pleased when Harry didn't stop him.

There was another knock, causing Blaise to growl in annoyance when Harry pulled back breaking the kiss. But Blaise didn't let him get too far, pulling the smaller boy back in for a deeper kiss, the hands on Harry's hips pulling him closer until he felt something hard pressed against him.

Harry cried out and broke the kiss again, pulling back from Blaise just as there was a third knock at the door. Harry blinked and looked around at the sound of knocking. “Someone's here...” he said and moved to get up, but Blaise pulled him back.

“Ignore them, they'll go away soon enough.” Blaise moved in to get another kiss but Harry shook his head, pushing away from Blaise and slipping off the tan boy's lap.

“It might be important,” Harry said and he hurried to the door, unaware of the fact that he looked like he had just been thoroughly snogged. Draco grumbled quietly to himself as he straightened his own clothes out as best he could, running a hand through his blond hair that had been messed up by Blaise earlier.

Blaise didn't really bother with making himself look presentable as he stood up and followed Harry to the door. The smaller boy opened it and Blaise sighed when he saw that it was just Hermione.

“Harry James Potter! Why are you not still in the hospital wing? I swear, I'm surprised that Madam Pomfrey doesn't hunt you down and drag you back there whenever you sneak out,” Hermione said and Harry smiled at her.

“Hello to you too,” he said and Hermione sighed.

“I didn't know if I should be worried about you vanishing from the hospital wing or not. Madam Pomfrey said you didn't even tell Malfoy or Zabini where you were going.” Hermione looked at Harry, blinking as she finally took in his appearance. She looked from her friend to Blaise, when the tan boy stepped up behind Harry, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy and pulling him back so that Harry was resting against his chest.

“As you can see, Granger, Harry is perfectly fine. We found him alright and we just decided to try and get to know each other a bit better.” Blaise smirked when he saw Hermione's face turning bright red.

“Sorry, I was just... I was worried about Harry and, well, I wanted to see if he was okay,” Hermione explained and Blaise chuckled.

“Well, as you can see, he is perfectly fine,” Blaise repeated as he leaned down slightly to press a kiss to Harry's neck, bringing Hermione's attention now to the red marks on either side of her friend's neck.

“Blaise, stop,” Harry ordered, smacking the Italian boy's head, before pulling away from him and looking back to Hermione, his own face red from embarrassment. “Sorry, 'mione.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Harry. I have class to get to now, but we could maybe meet up for lunch?” she suggested.

“Harry will be busy,” came Draco's comment from where he was still sitting on the sofa, though he had been listening to the whole conversation.

“Or maybe dinner,” Hermione said, as she looked at Harry, who nodded.

“No, lunch should be fine,” Harry said, shooting a glare over his shoulder at Draco before returning his attention to Hermione.

“Meet me down by the lake then, we can eat lunch outside today,” she suggested and Harry nodded his agreement, watching her turn and hurry off to class before he closed the door and turned to look at Blaise.

“Shall we continue from where we were interrupted?” Blaise asked, though he was mostly joking as the mood had already been broken.

“No,” Harry said as he shook his head.

“Thought not.” Blaise smiled. “In that case, there are a few things I think we should talk about,” the tan boy said, before turning and going back to sit on the sofa next to Draco. Harry frowned, looking at the two of them curiously. Harry didn't sit back on the sofa, not trusting either of the other two not to start something again, so he instead sat in one of the chairs.

“What do we need to talk about?” Harry asked, looking at Blaise.

“I got a letter from my mother; she's not happy about the fact that I haven't been home to see her since last summer,” Blaise said with a small sigh. “Not that much could be done about that as Christmas for us was a little hectic.” Harry's frown deepened as he thought about everything that had happened over Christmas break. However, Blaise continued speaking before Harry could think too much on it. “She wants me to go home for Easter break in a few weeks. I'm reluctant to go with the way your magic has been recently,” Blaise said.

“I'm sorry.” Harry lowered his head slightly feeling that familiar feeling of guilt building up again. Because of him, Blaise hadn't been able to see his mother, and now once again because of him Blaise was going to miss out on seeing her for Easter as well.

“Harry, let Blaise finish before you get to worked up about this,” Draco said, cutting into Harry's thoughts. The smaller boy nodded and looked at the tan boy, waiting for him to continue.

“You and Draco have been invited to come with me but I think that maybe before we go, we could try and work on controlling your magic,” Blaise suggested.

“I'm trying, it's really not as easy as it sounds. I can feel it when my magic starts building up, when I try and hold it in... it feels like it's burning me,” Harry explained. “I'm never able to hold onto it for long because of that.”

“That's because magic like yours, it was never meant to be held inside like that. It also wasn't meant to be let out in one big explosion either. A lot of purebloods learn about controlling magic when they are younger, how to control it, channel it, and how not to fight your own magic. If you fight against your own magic it will just keep getting worse until it eventually kills you.” Blaise didn't want to frighten Harry but, after what had happened two weeks ago, the tan boy had decided that it was time to explain things to Harry, make the smaller boy understand how dangerous it really was to hold the wild magic inside.

“If I don't hold it in though, others could get hurt,” Harry pointed out.

“That is why I'm going to teach you how to control it.” Blaise smiled at Harry.

“My magic can't be controlled though,” Harry reminded the tan boy, who chuckled and shook his head.

“Harry, all magic can be controlled,” Draco said.

Blaise nodded his agreement. “He's right, it's just a matter of finding out the safest way for you. I will find a safe place for us to practice and, even if you don't have full control, you will be better with your magic by Easter,” Blaise promised. Harry still looked doubtful about this but nodded his head in agreement anyway, deciding that as long as Blaise was there, if something did go wrong the tan boy would be able to fix it.

“Great, now that that is decided, me and Draco will help you catch up on the two weeks of school work you missed,” Blaise said, causing Harry to groan and lean back in his chair.

“I suppose there's nothing better to do today,” Harry sighed, standing up and going to get his school books, deciding that at least he would have Blaise and Draco's help so that it might not take quite so long.

TBC

And that is another chapter done! This story has four, maybe five more chapters left before it is finished. I am SO excited about this! I am already half way done with chapter 24, so that one may be finished by next week. We shall see how this goes. As always feel free to look me up on facebook! Celtic Kitsune, I am giving daily updates about how the final chapters of Unwanted Bonds are going.


	24. Chapter 24

ENJOY!  
Also, BickyMonster is amazing! Seriously helped a lot with this chapter!

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 24

Harry made his way down to the lake where he had agreed to meet Hermione for lunch; he was running a little late due to the fact that Blaise and Draco had wanted him to get more rest as he was in fact still recovering. Harry felt fine though, and he wanted the chance to talk with Hermione and, given that he had been unconscious for most of the two weeks since that day in the Owlery, maybe get a little more information about what exactly had happened with Ron.

Harry was halfway across the grounds when he saw her standing next to one of the large rocks; smiling, he walked a little faster, ready to call out to get her attention when he saw someone else with her. The person had been sitting half-hidden by the rock and Harry only saw the flash of red hair before the person was mostly hidden from sight again. Harry bit his lower lip, slowing his pace down again. He could only assume that the person by the lake with Hermione was in fact Ron. As much as Harry wanted to see the red-head, he was still more than a little worried about talking with him.

Hermione looked up. Spotting Harry, she smiled before hurrying over to him, meeting him halfway. "I was wondering if Malfoy and Zabini were actually going to let you out of your room at all," Hermione said.

Harry blushed as he remembered what Hermione had interrupted and shook his head. “They wanted me to get some more rest but I feel fine; as long as I don't stay out too long, they probably won't come hunting me down,” Harry said, only half joking.

“They really do seem to care about you.” Hermione smiled. She had been really worried about Harry when she found out about the bond, and that worry had only grown when she saw how Draco had been treating her friend; but ever since the blond Slytherin had stopped blocking the bond, things really had gotten a lot better for Harry.

Harry smiled as well nodding his head once. “I really like them, Hermione. It seems really weird that I should like them as much as I do...”

“It's not weird to be happy, Harry,” Hermione said.

“It is for me,” Harry said with a shrug, his eyes drifting to look at something past Hermione's shoulder. The bushy-haired girl turned around and saw that Ron was now standing where she had been before. She looked back at Harry.

"I convinced Ron that he should really talk to you,” Hermione explained. “I think you should talk to him as well,” Hermione insisted.

"I'm still not sure about everything that happened,” Harry admitted, turning his attention away from Ron to look back at Hermione, hoping that she would give him a bit more information before he agreed to talk to the red-head.

“He was under the Imperious curse,” Hermione explained.

“I know that much, 'mione, I just... how much of what he said and did was because of the curse?” Harry questioned. “The fight we had at Halloween, that was before he was under the curse...” Harry trailed off when Hermione shook her head.

“No it wasn't. McLaggen had Ron under the curse since September," Hermione said. Harry frowned glancing over towards Ron again, the red head was watching them, and Harry sighed.

“I'm still not really sure about this, 'mione,” Harry said softly. Though he could at least admit to himself that the reason he was apprehensive about talking to Ron was because he was worried that maybe Ron really did hate him, and that it hadn't been because of the Imperius curse. After all, they had spent a good part of their fourth year fighting as well.

“Just try talking, okay?” Hermione said and Harry nodded. Taking a deep breath, he walked the rest of the way down to the lake, stopping a few feet away from Ron.

“Hey,” Ron greeted and Harry nodded a greeting back. Neither boy seemed sure about what they should say; even though Harry was standing there with multiple questions running through his mind, he didn't think it was right to ask any of them at the moment.

“So, did anyone tell you what happened?” Ron asked and Harry nodded again.

“Yeah, Hermione gave me the quick version of it,” Harry said, looking over his shoulder to where Hermione was standing a few feet away, watching them.

“She gave me the quick version of what's been happening with you too.” Ron sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Look, mate, for what it's worth, I never meant any of what I said,” Ron said, when Harry turned to look at him again.

“I know... it's just... it's a bit hard, you know?” Harry bit his lower lip when Ron nodded. “I mean, I know it wasn't you, I know you were under the Imperius.” Harry sighed. “I do blame myself for Cedric, and hearing you blame me... it made it all that much more real to me,” Harry explained.

Ron looked out at the lake. “I suppose curse or not, things can't really go back to the way they were?”

“Probably not,” Harry said apologetically. “We can still be friends though.” Harry found that he really did still want to be friends with Ron, even if it might take a bit of time to get over what happened. Ron had been his first friend ever, and that had to count for something.

Ron gave him a half smile and nodded. “So, Malfoy and Zabini?” he asked teasingly.

Harry nodded. “It's complicated.”

“Not really; Hermione told me it was a signature bond,” Ron said, looking at Harry when the smaller boy nodded his head. “Things like that, they always happen for a reason. At least that's what Mum always told me,” Ron said with a small shrug of his shoulder, seeming not bothered by the fact that his best friend was with two Slytherins, one who had been Harry's school rival.

“I honestly haven't been doing any more research into it; we found out what the bond was and I kind of left it at that. Though that's mostly because things have been more than a little crazy,” Harry admitted

“You can say that again, I think this can definitely go down as the weirdest school year that we've had so far.” The red-head chuckled and Harry laughed, nodding his agreement.

“I knew from the moment that I got my Hogwarts letter that my life was never going to be normal, I never really expected things to get this crazy though,” Harry admitted.

“Still better than your relatives though,” Ron pointed out and Harry didn't know if he could fully agree with that statement but he nodded his head anyway, reminding himself that once Voldemort was gone things would be better.

Harry and Ron stayed by the lake through the whole lunch break until Hermione came over, reminding Ron that they had to get to his next class. Harry promised that he would talk to the red-head again soon and when Ron was dragged off by Hermione, Harry turned his attention back out towards the lake. He thankfully didn't have to go to class until the following day, as he was technically still recovering from his magical outburst from two weeks ago.

Even though it was still chilly outside, Harry didn't want to go back up to the castle just yet and so, pushing himself to his feet, he decided to just walk around the lake for a little while and let his mind wander.

He thought about his growing relationships with Blaise and Draco; even though the whole thing still confused him, Harry found that he was in fact growing very attached to the two Slytherins. And even though he was a little scared, he had decided that he didn't want to give this up. The only thing he really had to do now was tell his Godfather. Harry was sure that Sirius wasn't going to be too happy to find out that not only was his Godson bonded to two Slytherins, but dating them now as well.

Harry just added that to the list of other things he had to talk to Sirius about. He had avoided writing, or using the mirror he got for Christmas. He missed his Godfather but Harry knew that Sirius would be asking him again about the Dursleys. The thought made him uncomfortable but after talking to Snape, Harry was confident that he might be able to tell Sirius a little bit about the muggle family; the question that Harry didn't want to answer was why he had never told anyone before because that was an answer that Harry didn't have for himself.

Letting out a long sigh, Harry wrapped his arms around himself, regretting not having brought a cloak with him and started to make his way back up to the castle; he had been outside long enough and he was starting to get cold.

 

\-----------------x

Harry was feeling more than a little tired when he finally made it back to his dorm; waking up as early as he had, and the emotional swing he had been on since then, he decided to lay down for a few hours, hoping that he wouldn't feel quite so drained when he woke up.

Harry felt as if he had just fallen asleep when he was suddenly jerked awake; sitting up quickly, wondering what had just woken him up, only to feel a hand on his shoulder. Instinctively Harry pulled away from that hand.

"It's just me, Harry," Blaise said, smiling when the smaller boy blinked up at him.

"Blaise?" Harry frowned, reaching for his glasses and slipping them on. "What time's it?" Harry said through a yawn.

"It's just passed six. Draco and I were just about to head down to the Great Hall for dinner," Blaise said, chuckling when Harry yawned again.

"Kay," Harry answered, laying back down on his bed looking as if he had every intention of going back to sleep.

"You're coming with us, Harry," Blaise said and Harry cracked open an eye to look at the tan boy.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because there isn't any reason for you not to, and I also know that you haven't eaten anything all day," Blaise pointed out and Harry frowned at him again.

"I met Hermione for lunch," Harry reminded the Italian.

"Yes, but you didn't eat then did you?" Blaise questioned. "Draco and I know that you were talking to Weasley. No, we weren't spying on you," Blaise said quickly before Harry could say anything. "Theodore told us that he saw you down by the lake with Granger and Weasley,"

“Okay, but how do you know I haven't eaten anything?” Harry raised an eyebrow at Blaise.

Blaise shrugged his shoulder. “Okay, maybe I don't know for sure, but I have noticed your eating habits, and the fact that you've been rather stressed today is a good indication that you most likely haven't eaten; and, even if you have, it wasn't much,” Blaise said and Harry sighed closing his eyes.

“I just haven't been hungry,” Harry said.

“You don't have to eat a whole lot, but please come with us and at least get something to eat? Even if it's only half a sandwich or something,” Blaise tried to compromise; it was one of the things that really worried the tan boy, how little Harry actually ate.

Harry let out a long sigh before sitting back up. “Alright. I'm really not hungry though, so don't get mad if all I do is have a bite of toast or something,” Harry said before standing up.

Blaise nodded his agreement. “I promise, no forcing you to eat. Though I hope you will eat more than one bite of toast,” Blaise said, leading Harry out to the common room where Draco was waiting for them. The blond boy smiled at the two of them.

“And here I thought we would have to drag you along with us,” Draco said, looking at Harry.

“Why waste the energy dragging him, when either of us could easily just carry him?” Blaise questioned.

“I agreed to go, so no one's carrying me,” Harry said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Oh really?” Draco raised an eyebrow at the smaller boy smirking taking half a step forward, laughing when Harry darted behind Blaise.

Blaise laughed as well as he glanced over his shoulder. “You can't just use me as a human shield for free you know,” Blaise said.

Harry frowned up at Blaise. “You'd just stand there and let Draco carry me around?” Harry asked and Blaise turned so he was now facing Harry.

“Of course not,” Blaise was smirking as well, before he bent slightly and lifted Harry up easily. “Not when I could be the one to carry you.” Blaise said, laughing when Harry cried out, wrapping his arms tightly around Blaise's neck.

“Don't drop me!” Harry yelled, making Blaise and Draco laugh harder.

“I wouldn't drop you,” Blaise promised. “But this way Draco won't be carrying you around,”

“I don't want anyone to carry me around! Put me down,” Harry demanded and Blaise smirked at him again.

“What will you give me if I agree to put you down?” Blaise asked, raising an eyebrow at the smaller boy in his arms.

Harry chewed on his lower lip for a moment, looking from Blaise and down to the floor, his cheeks gaining a little bit of color as he mumbled something that Blaise couldn't hear.

“Didn't quite catch that.” Blaise said, but instead of receiving another verbal answer Harry lifted his head leaning up and pressed his lips to Blaise's. The tan boy tightened his hold on Harry, responding and taking control of the kiss quickly. Harry broke the kiss giving Blaise a small smile.

“Was that supposed to convince me to let you go?” Blaise asked, chuckling softly.

“Kind of, maybe... If you put me down I promise to kiss you again?” Harry said, then found himself on his feet again looking up at the tan boy. Smiling, he leaned up to reward Blaise with a chaste kiss; though he pulled away before Blaise could make it into something more.

“If you two are quite finished, I am actually very hungry and would like to go and eat now,” Draco said, Harry turned to look at the blond boy and smiled.

“Alright, let's go get dinner,” Harry agreed, following Draco out, quickening his steps so he could walk next to Draco. Harry couldn't help but smile when he felt the blond boy take his hand. Even if he was nervous about eating in the Great Hall, Harry knew things would be fine as long as he had Blaise and Draco with him.

\-----------------x

The three boys entered the Great Hall, Draco holding one of Harry's hands, Blaise holding the other. Both boys started leading Harry over towards the Slytherin table before Harry pulled his hands away from the two of them.

“If I'm going to eat in here, I want to eat with my friends,” Harry said, looking over towards the Gryffindor table. Blaise and Draco looked at each other and Harry rolled his eyes. “You wanted me to eat in here, so I will, but I'm not sitting over there.” Harry nodded towards the table Blaise and Draco had been about to take him to.

“Alright, as long as you actually eat something,” Blaise said.

“Hermione won't let me leave the table until I have eaten at least a little bit,” Harry assured the tan boy before he turned and hurried over to the table of red and gold, sitting next to a surprised Hermione, and across from a grinning Fred and George. Looking around the table Harry frowned.

“Where's Ron?” Harry asked looking at Hermione then over at the twins.

“Hiding in Gryffindor tower; he's gotten almost as bad as you when it comes to eating,” Hermione said with a small sigh and Harry frowned.

“Is it really that bad?” Harry asked, looking over at Fred and George.

“We would be more worried if we hadn't seen him smuggling food out of the kitchen earlier,” George said with a shrug.

“We're going to leave him be for a few more days but, if he's still being stupid, we're going to have someone come and talk some sense back into him... not that our baby brother had much sense to begin with,” Fred said with a grin. Harry nodded, deciding that he should maybe try and talk to Ron again soon.

“It's really good to see you in here during meal time,” Hermione said. “Are you actually here to eat this time? Or do you need to drag me off because you're having another love life crisis?” Hermione asked, turning slightly to look at where Blaise and Draco were seated at the Slytherin table.

“They dragged me here to eat dinner,” Harry informed his friend, who nodded and started filling up his plate with some of his favorite foods, and thankfully stayed away from anything that might be to greasy.

“I'm assuming you haven't eaten much today. I let it slide during lunch since you were talking to Ron, but you've got to eat something now,” she ordered placing the plate down in front of Harry, who smiled at her.

“Thanks, 'mione,” Harry said before he started eating. He didn't pay attention to anyone else in the Great Hall, even though he could feel hundreds of eyes on him, watching him as he ate and talked with Hermione and the twins. He was so focused on ignoring everything else around him that Harry didn't notice the owl until it had landed right in front of him, nearly knocking over his pumpkin juice. Blinking at the unfamiliar owl, Harry reached to remove the letter it was carrying.

“Strange time to be getting an owl,” George commented as the owl took off after stealing some food from Harry's plate.

“Who's the letter from?” Fred asked curiously.

“Snuffles,” Harry said as he stared at the envelope. The only writing on it was his own name but Harry had been looking at his Godfathers writing for nearly two years now and so easily recognised it. “I think I'm going to go back to my room to read this,” Harry said, quickly excusing himself from the table and hurrying out of the Great Hall, the letter clutched in his hand. He didn't even look to see if Blaise and Draco were following him, knowing that they wouldn't be far behind after his hasty exit.

Harry ran all the way back to his rooms. He knew he shouldn't be worried that something was wrong with Sirius because he was sure that if something was wrong then Dumbledore would have told him, but Harry couldn't shake the fear that something might have happened. Once he was safe inside his room, Harry ripped open the letter; the only thing written there was “Use the mirror.” Harry's frown deepened, throwing the letter onto his bed before he started digging around for the mirror that Sirius had given him for Christmas.

His heart was hammering in his chest while his mind came up with all sorts of things that could be wrong. Sirius obviously hadn't been captured because that had been his hand writing. Maybe something had happened to Remus, but if that were the case Harry didn't know why Dumbledore hadn't told him.

“Harry?” Draco's voice called as he entered the common room. Harry heard footsteps coming down the hall but he ignored them and continued looking for his mirror; thinking it might have fallen under the bed at some point, the small boy crawled halfway under, searching, pulling out a couple sweaters, a robe, a tie, a small box and a book. Growling in annoyance when he didn't find it, Harry moved then to his trunk, pulling things out and tossing them.

“Harry? What in Merlin's name are you doing?” Draco asked as he watched the smaller boy from the doorway as Harry came out from under the bed and dove into his trunk, throwing things around.

“I'm looking for the mirror that Sirius gave me for Christmas!” Harry said and Draco sighed, moving over to wrap his arms around Harry.

“Harry, you have to calm down, I don't think you'd be able to handle it if your magic goes out of control again,” Draco said but Harry shrugged his arms off, turning to look at the blond boy.

“Sirius sent me a letter, it just said to use the mirror, and I can't find it anywhere! What if something happened to him? Or to Remus?” Harry asked and Draco sighed.

“Harry, please calm down. Your mirror is in your desk drawer, I put it there so it wouldn't get broken,” Draco said, sighing when Harry sprang to his feet, hurrying over to the desk pulling open every drawer until he found the mirror.

“Sirius? Sirius are you there?” Harry asked looking into the mirror. For a moment there was nothing, and Harry felt like something was squeezing his chest, before he saw his Godfather's face appear.

“It's about time you got around to calling me,” Sirius said with a grin. Seeing his Godfather, and seeing him smiling, Harry felt all his fear leave him so quickly that he just sank to the floor.

“Sirius... you're okay,” Harry said. Sirius blinked in confusion.

“Of course I'm okay, why wouldn't I be?” the older man asked.

“Perhaps because you sent Harry a letter telling him to use the mirror, and nothing else. No explanation at all,” Draco said as he came over to Harry. “You just nearly scared Harry half-to-death,” Draco snapped.

“You're really okay?” Harry asked before Sirius could start an argument with Draco.

“I'm fine, kiddo, it's you I've been worried about,” Sirius said and Harry blinked.

“Why me?” Harry asked, looking confused and Draco rolled his eyes as he realised what this was most likely about.

“Harry, did it occur to you that Dumbledore might have informed your Godfather that you were unconscious in the hospital wing for two weeks?” Draco asked and Harry looked from the mirror to Draco and back again, his eyes going wide.

“Dumbledore did tell me about that," Sirius confirmed. "He explained what happened, and he contacted me yesterday to tell me that you were awake. However, due to school being back in session I am not allowed to visit you. And considering you haven't used the mirror once since I gave it to you, I thought I would just send you a letter and tell you to use it. This way I can just see for myself that you're actually okay,” Sirius explained and Harry sighed slowly getting to his feet and moving to sit on his bed.

“I'm fine, Sirius, everything is going fine now,” Harry said.

Draco stood back, watching Harry talk to his Godfather through the mirror. Shaking his head, the blond looked around the room at the mess that Harry had made; knowing that the smaller boy wouldn't be cleaning things up properly, Draco took out his wand and started levitating things, neatly packing them into Harry's trunk, glancing over at the smaller boy every now and then.

There was a knock on the door and Draco looked over to see Blaise sanding there. “He's fine,” Draco said closing the lid to Harry's trunk once everything was off the floor and put in there safely. “He's catching his Godfather up on everything that's been happening,” Draco explained as he walked over to stand in front of Blaise, who sighed.

“Suppose we should let Harry have some privacy then,” Blaise said, looking over towards the bed where Harry was holding the mirror. “Harry,” Blaise said, catching the smaller boy's attention, “Draco and I will be in our room if you need us,” the tan boy informed him and Harry smiled and nodded.

“I'm sorry for running out of the Great Hall like that,” Harry said and Blaise chuckled.

“Not your fault that that idiot gave you a heart attack,” Draco said ignoring the glare that Harry sent his way. “Don't forget, we're back in class again first thing in the morning,” the blond boy reminded Harry, who sighed and nodded; waiting until the door was closed, Harry turned his attention back to Sirius.

\------------------x

Harry sat at his desk in the potions classroom, Draco seated next to him as they both waited for Snape to start the lesson. It was still strange for Harry to be the only two people in the classroom but he was still grateful that Draco had decided to still wake up ungodly-early to sit and brew a potion. Or in Harry's case, fail to brew a potion; though Harry decided he was only doing this bad today due to the fact that he had only gotten a couple hours of sleep, after staying up until nearly three in the morning talking to Sirius.

“I would think, being one of two people in this class, Mr. Potter, that you would have been able to focus enough to brew an acceptable potion,” Snape sneered as he glared into the cauldron that Harry had been using. “Useless,” Snape said, waving his wand to banish the mess before looking at Harry, who had lowered his head, his fists clenched in his lap.

Snape sighed, pinching the brim of his nose. “I was not talking about you, Mr. Potter; the potion could not be saved and therefore it was useless.”

Harry nodded his head slowly but made no comment about what Snape had said; it was nice to have the Potions professor clarify what he had been referring to but the comment still stung. “I really don't know why I can't get this, I swear that I'm following the instructions.” Harry looked up at his potions professor, who sighed.

“Clearly you are not. All the instructions that you need are written there. You have a problem with staying focused on what you are doing,” Snape informed him. Harry wanted to argue but Draco cut him off.

“I think he's right about that one, Harry,” Draco said, not wanting to make Harry feel as if it was two against one. “You don't concentrate, at least not the way you should. It's why you had so much trouble with Occlumency. When brewing a potion you have to have one hundred percent of your focus on the potion and what you are doing. If you let your mind wander, even for a moment, you can stir the potion a quarter turn to much, add a little bit extra of one ingredients, or even leave it on the burner for a moment to long; all of those factors can add up and that is what ruins a potion,” Draco explained and Harry looked from him up to Snape.

“Mr. Malfoy is correct. You need to learn to focus on what you are doing; until you are able to do that, I am afraid you will only be mediocre at potions,” Snape said, turning and heading back over to his desk.

Harry clenched his fists again. He wanted to be angry about what Snape had just said but he couldn't argue that the man hadn't been right. He had been letting his mind wander, and even Draco knew it too. Looking over at the Potions master, Harry sighed. “Should I try and make the potion again?” Harry asked, frowning before adding, “Sir.”

Snape raised an eyebrow at him. “No, I do not think that will be necessary. Spend the rest of this lesson writing an essay about what mistakes you believed that you made to ruin your potion,” Snape said, lowering his head to continue correcting the stack of papers that he had on the desk in front of him. Harry let out a frustrated sigh but got his parchment out anyway; it really was pointless to argue with the man.

The rest of the class went by fairly quickly and soon Draco was packing up his things ready to go get breakfast with Harry, as neither of them had had time that morning. But, before the boys could leave the room, Snape called for them to wait. Draco paused, looking curiously at his Godfather, while Harry went a shade paler; he had been expecting for Snape to hold him after class. Black eyes looked up and locked with Harry's green ones and the small boy knew what was coming before Snape had even spoken.

“Mr. Potter, I wish for you to return to my office later tonight at seven, we have more things we need to discuss,” Snape said.

“I... is it really necessary, sir?” Harry asked, biting on his lower lip.

“Unless you have found someone else to talk to, then yes, it is necessary,” Snape informed him and Harry sighed.

“If I don't want to talk about it anymore?” Harry questioned.

“I have already told you why talking about it is important, I have also given you a list of people you may talk to other than myself,” Snape said watching Harry as the small boy glanced over at Draco, who had remained silent. “If you wish for Draco to be here as well, you may bring him along. But you will be here at seven tonight.”

Sighing Harry nodded his head slowly. “Yes, sir,” he said, grabbing his bag and leaving the room, pausing at the door when Draco didn't move to follow him.

“Uncle Severus.” Draco waited until he had Snape's attention. “Promise me, no matter what, that you're not going to hurt Harry again.” Draco did trust his Godfather but the blond could still remember how much pain Harry had been in when Snape had pushed the smaller boy too far. And even though Harry had talked to the professor alone since then, Draco wanted the promise from his Godfather regardless.

“That is not a promise I can make, Draco,” Snape said, looking at his godson. “It had not been my intention to hurt him last time either; accidents happen. I can promise, however, that I will do my best not to hurt him like that again,” Snape said.

Draco nodded once, knowing that was the best promise he could possibly get from Snape. Turning, Draco smiled at Harry, before taking the smaller boy's hand and leading him out of the classroom. Together they headed up to the Great Hall where they were going to meet Blaise for breakfast. Harry was still reluctant to go in but Draco pulled him through the doors before he could protest. Harry was grateful to find that there weren't a lot of people around, everyone either already heading to their first class or, in the Gryffindors’ case, probably sleeping in a little later.

“So how did it go?” Blaise asked when Draco made Harry sit down next to the tan boy at the Slytherin table before taking the seat on the smaller boy’s other side. The only reason Harry didn't protest this was because the Slytherin table was nearly empty; at least, the end of the table they were seated at was empty. Deciding that this was okay for right now, he helped himself to some nearby eggs and toast.

“Snape's a git,” Harry replied to Blaise's question and the tan boy laughed.

“Was it really that bad?” Blaise looked at Draco, who shrugged.

“Professor Snape was his usual self towards Harry, but Harry wasn't paying attention again. Ruined his potion and had to write an essay for the rest of class, an essay that he didn't even finish, I might add,” Draco said, looking at Harry who shrugged.

“It's not my fault that I can't concentrate on the stupid potions,” Harry huffed. “Maybe if Snape was a better teacher...”

“So if you had a better teacher you'd be able to brew a potion perfectly?” Draco asked with a smirk.

“Never said it would be perfect but it would be passable,” Harry said, taking a large bite of his toast.

“Then I'll teach you potions.” Draco chuckled at the shocked look on Harry's face. Dishing himself up some breakfast, Draco looked over at Blaise. “Any luck on finding a room for you to teach Harry in?”

Blaise shook his head. “Nothing perfect, I did get permission to use one of the old classrooms though, so we'll use that for now. At least until I find something better.” Blaise then looked to Harry. “When did you want to start those magic lessons?” the tan boy asked.

“I don't know... as soon as we can I think, but I have to be in Snape's office tonight at seven... so maybe we could start tomorrow?” Harry suggested and Blaise nodded.

“That should be soon enough,” Blaise said and returned to eating his own breakfast, happy that Harry seemed to actually be hungry for a change.

\-----------------x

Harry bit his lip hard as he stared at the floor in Snape's office. He had been sitting there for nearly ten minutes now and hadn't said a word. Snape hadn't said anything either for that matter, clearly waiting for Harry to say something. The smaller boy was wishing that he had agreed to let Draco come with him but he hadn't felt ready to explain to his boyfriend in detail about his relatives. Harry knew that eventually he would have to tell both Draco and Blaise all about the extent of his abuse but the small boy was hoping to put that off as long as he possibly could.

“Do you know why I insisted you come here again tonight, Mr. Potter?” Snape asked. Harry looked up at him.

“To talk about my relatives again?” Harry hadn't meant for that to sound like a question but he wondered if there were any other reason why Snape would want to talk to him.

“That is mostly correct,” Snape said, leaning back in his chair and looking at the smaller boy sitting in front of him. He tried to pick out things in the boy's features that reminded him of Lily; the child obviously took her eyes, the color and the shape, it was such a shame that those eyes were hidden behind the ugly round glasses, another reminder that this boy was also the son of James Potter. However, for now Snape forced any thoughts about James out of his head; if he was going to be of any help to Lily's only child, Snape knew that he could not be thinking about James at this time. So he instead focused on Lily, and what she had looked like. When he truly looked for the resemblance, Snape could see it, it wasn't just her eyes but the shape of Harry's face, his nose, and the way the boy tilted his head slightly, those were all things that he had gotten from Lily. “I don't suppose your aunt ever told you anything about her childhood?” Snape questioned.

Harry shook his head looking curiously at his professor. “No, I wasn't allowed to ask questions, and she wasn't about to talk to me unless it was giving me more chores to do,” Harry said.

Snape nodded his head once, reminding himself once again why he was doing this before he spoke. “The Evans family lived down the street from me when your aunt was a young child,” Snape said and watched those green eyes widen in surprise.

“You grew up with my mother and Aunt Petunia?” Harry asked in disbelief.

“I thought perhaps a bit of background information about your aunt might help you understand her attitude towards your parents, magic and you.” Snape said.

“I know she hated my mother, she hates magic and since I'm a reminder of both things she hates, she hates me as well,” Harry said.

“That is probably true now, it was not so when she was a child. She was close to your mother, up until Lily started in her first year at Hogwarts. Your aunt was jealous of your mother, she even wrote letters to the Headmaster asking permission to attend Hogwarts, though she was denied as your aunt obviously has no magic of her own. Jealousy quickly became hate, so you are correct in saying you are a reminder of things she hates, as well as a reminder of something that she could not have,” Snape informed the small boy, who was still watching him with wide eyes, even though it had been an edited version of what had transpired between Lily and Petunia.

“You knew my mother?” Harry asked and Snape sighed, of course the child would latch onto that one part of the short story.

“Yes, I knew your mother,” Snape answered almost snappishly and watched as the boy in front of him seemed to shrink in on himself. Closing his eyes Snape let out a long sigh. “You have things that you dislike talking about. I dislike talking about your mother,” Snape explained and Harry nodded.

“It's just... I don't know anyone who knew my mother personally... except my aunt, but she's only ever told me lies about my parents,” Harry explained. “Sirius and Remus, they've told me a lot about my dad... but I don't know anything about my mum.” Harry kept his head lowered as he spoke.

Snape sighed and stood up, the chair he was sitting in scraping across the floor. He watched the boy sitting in front of him flinch violently, the clenched fists twitching as if readying himself to be hit. Without saying a word to Harry, Snape walked over to his bookshelf, reaching up to the very top and took down an old dusty book. He looked at it, and the layer of dust that it had collected over the years. It had been a long time since he had even taken the book down, just content with the knowledge that he had it in his possession. Turning his attention back to the too small boy sitting in the chair Snape let out another sigh before walking over and held the book out. “Take it, before I change my mind,” Snape said.

Harry blinked at the book, looking up at Snape, who glared at him. Harry turned his attention back to the book, holding out his hand he took it and flipped it open to the first page. “Diary of Lily Evans” Harry's hands clutched the book so tightly that his knuckles were white.

“I think that is enough for one night,” Snape said and Harry knew he was being dismissed. He felt like he should maybe say something to his teacher, but he couldn't seem to form any words. “Out,” Snape ordered.

Harry nodded, holding the book in a near death grip he left the office quickly, not even thinking about why Snape had had his mother’s diary, or why the man had given it to him. All that Harry knew was that he was holding something that had been his mother’s, something that she had written in. And this small book was going to be going in the same safe place that he kept his cloak and album hidden.

\------------------x

Blaise and Draco both looked up as the door to their shared rooms opened and Harry hurried inside with a little book clutched to his chest. The two Slytherins had both been trying to finish off some homework while they waited for him to return, though truthfully neither of them had been able to get much done due to their worry over how Harry was faring.

“Harry?” Blaise asked, as Harry hurried through the room, straight passed the table where both Blaise and Draco were sat, without so much as acknowledging them. Blaise moved to stand up, intending on going after Harry, but a hand on his arm stopped him. Blaise turned to look at Draco who shook his head.

“Leave him be,” Draco insisted. He barely needed to use the bond to tell that Harry needed to be alone for a little while. He wasn’t sure what it was that Harry and Snape had talked about but it was clear that it had left Harry rather shaken and emotionally fragile.

“You sure?” Blaise asked, glancing in the direction of Harry’s room.

Draco nodded his head. “If I wasn't, I would have followed him to his room,” Draco pointed out and Blaise sighed, reluctantly taking his seat again. It was difficult to just sit there, knowing that Harry was upset about something, but Blaise had no clue how to help Harry. The best way to help the smaller boy always seemed to be just leaving him alone, or leaving him to Draco.

“Do you have any idea how difficult this is for me?” Blaise asked, shoving his homework away; he wouldn't be able to concentrate on finishing any of it now. Draco let out a small sigh, leaning over and gently pressing his lips to Blaise's. Blaise lifted his hand, lacing his fingers through Draco's hair, though he didn't take control of the kiss.

Draco pulled back and smiled at his boyfriend, “I know it's hard to sit and do nothing but there really isn't anything to be done at the moment. Harry will talk to us eventually,” Draco said.

“You mean Harry will talk to YOU eventually,” Blaise said, sounding bitter about the fact that there wasn't anything he would be able to do when Harry was ready to talk.

“And he will eventually reach the point that I did, and then he will talk to you, Blaise; but you've never been in any situation that even resembles his. He's not choosing me over you, just like he doesn't choose you over me when there's a problem with his magic,” Draco said and Blaise nodded.

“I know, I just wish there was more I could do to help.” Blaise ran a hand through his own hair as Draco sat back.

“Well, you are going to be training him with his magic starting tomorrow. That's going to be a big help for him,” Draco pointed out and Blaise smiled at the reminder of the lessons he had been planning out for Harry.

“I suppose you're right,” Blaise agreed, looking at his discarded homework before deciding to put it away for the night and work more on the lesson he had planned out for Harry. Even if Harry wanted to be alone tonight, Blaise wanted to work on something that would be of some help to his smaller boyfriend.

\-----------------x

Harry looked around the room that Blaise had found, the one where the tan boy was going to teach him how to control and channel his magic. They were all hopeful that these lessons would help limit the amount of magical outbursts that Harry had.

“Okay, so what do I do first?” Harry asked, looking over at Blaise, who was busy moving some of the desks out of the way.

“First I am going to have you try out a few spells. I've been able to feel how strong your magic is, now I want to see it,” Blaise informed him, taking out his own wand and transfiguring one of the desks into a dummy before stepping back out of the way. “Use any spell on this,” Blaise ordered.

Harry looked at Blaise then at the wooden figure. Nodding, Harry took his wand out, deciding to start with a stunner as he already knew what kind of effect that spell would have. “Stupefy,” Harry said with a wave of his wand and, just as it had done to Ron, the stunner sent the wooden dummy flying backwards. Blaise looked at it and nodded before going over to stand next to Harry.

“Alright, now with that spell, did you let all your magic go into it? Or were you still holding back?” Blaise questioned, already knowing the answer.

“I held back I think...” Harry admitted.

“And that's where we are having the problem, Harry. You can't be holding your magic back when you're trying to use it. You are a powerful wizard, your magic and your spells are supposed to be stronger than what others are able to do,” Blaise explained, moving to stand behind Harry putting a hand on his shoulder. “Now, I want you to try the spell again,” Blaise ordered, using his own wand to set the dummy back up. “This time, don't hold your magic back,” Blaise said and Harry nodded, taking a deep breath and trying to do as he was told.

He tried the spell again, with the same result as last time. Biting his lip Harry looked over his shoulder at Blaise. “I can't stop holding my magic back...” he admitted and Blaise nodded.

“I felt that. The question is, why are you holding it back?” Blaise asked and Harry looked down at the floor shrugging his shoulder.

“I don't know, I've just always held it back... it always felt like there was too much of it and if I just let it go that something bad would happen,” Harry said.

“You're scared of it.” Blaise sighed and nodded his understanding. “Alright, different approach than,” Blaise looked thoughtful for a moment as he set the dummy back up, “Do you know why you're scared of your magic? Or is it that you're just worried about hurting someone?” Blaise asked looking back at Harry who shrugged his shoulder again.

“I really don't know,” Harry admitted. “I suppose it's partly because I don't want to hurt anyone... but I'm still holding it back when I'm fighting the dummy.” Harry nodded towards the wooden figure.

“Exactly, so there is something else stopping you, there is something else that is feeding into your fear of your magic, making you fight against something that is part of you.” Blaise turned so he was fully facing Harry again. “It will be easier if we can find out why you're afraid of your magic, but for now we will work on getting you familiar with your magic.” Blaise walked back over to stand behind Harry again, “I want you to cast that spell again, but this time try concentrate on what your magic is doing,” Blaise instructed.

Harry took a deep breath and, looking at the dummy set up in front of him, he cast the stunner again. Nothing felt any different to him, the stunner still set the wooden figure flying back. “I don't get it, how am I supposed to feel my magic?” Harry asked, looking at Blaise.

“When your magic goes out of control, what do you feel?” the tan boy questioned.

“It feels like it's burning; I can usually feel like it's just under my skin, burning me from the inside. It's not really a pleasant feeling,” Harry admitted.

Blaise looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “The burning I want to assume is because you're fighting your magic. I'm going to see if I can help bring your magic to the surface and we'll get you used to how your magic feels when it doesn't feel like it's burning you,” Blaise said keeping one hand on Harry's shoulder, while he moved the other to rest on Harry's chest. Closing his eyes he felt for the connection that he and Harry had, and tried to draw Harry's magic to the surface. It was harder to do as Blaise had only ever suppressed the smaller boy's magic before but he eventually managed it. Harry was trembling in his arms and Blaise opened his eyes to look down at the smaller boy.

“Harry?” Blaise asked in concern.

“It's too hot... Blaise, stop it... I don't like it,” Harry whimpered, his eyes closed tightly.

“Shh, I've got you, Harry. Stop fighting it, I won't let your magic get out of control,” Blaise promised. “Just let it go,” the tan boy urged but Harry shook his head.

“No, it burns. Please, Blaise, please!” Harry brought his hands up, clutching at Blaise's arm. He was shaking so badly and Blaise had to push the magic back down, tightening his arms around Harry, catching the smaller boy before he could fall to the floor.

“I'm sorry, I'm useless... I'm sorry,” Harry whimpered, turning so he could curl up tightly against Blaise.

“Don't be sorry, Harry, it wasn't your fault. It's just going to take some practice. I promise that we'll get this under control for you,” Blaise said. “But for now I think we can call it a night.” Harry nodded allowing himself to be lifted off the floor and carried back to their rooms. 

Blaise looked down at the small boy in his arms, as he made his way through the quiet halls of Hogwarts; he really wondered what it was that had Harry so scared of his magic that he would fight it to the extent of it burning him. The tan boy was already reworking his lesson plan in his head, he would have to try a whole new approach with Harry and, if the younger boy couldn't get control of his magic in the next few weeks, Blaise decided he was just going to ask his mother for help. 

TBC

Okay! And there is chapter 24! I am already working on chapter 25, and our boys will get a bit of a break ^_^ this makes me rather happy as they really do need a break! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The next one should be out soon! I am still trying to finish this story by the end of this month! Wish me luck! And as always, look me up on facebook! I've been keeping everyone informed with daily updates about the word count for each chapter!


	25. Chapter 25

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 25

In the weeks following his talk with Snape, Harry hardly read any of the diary that had been given to him. Between the magic lessons with Blaise, Draco helping him with potions, and the talks with Snape, Harry found himself too busy to read the diary. However, when he did manage to steal a few moments to himself, Harry found himself enthralled with the words that his mother had written.

It was the last day of classes before Easter break and Harry knew he should be making sure his things were packed, but it was one of those rare moments where Harry had a few minutes to himself, and so he took advantage of it and sat reading his mother's diary. That was where Blaise found him when the tan boy got back after his final class. The Italian smiled when he saw Harry sitting in the middle of the floor, his trunk open, half his things packed, the other half lying in a mess around him on the floor.

“How did I know you wouldn't be packed yet?” Blaise chuckled as he came into the room. Harry looked up at him and smiled, closing the book and setting it into his trunk. “Do you want some help?” Blaise asked.

“I've got it,” Harry reassured the tan boy, smiling up at him. “Besides, don't you have to pack your own things?” Harry asked.

“Yes, however, at the moment I have less to do than you,” Blaise said and he started picking up Harry's clothes, folding them and putting them into the trunk. The smaller boy smiled and picked up the few things on the floor around him and just threw them into the trunk without folding them, which Blaise pulled out and folded before putting back. “You really should take better care of your things,” Blaise commented as he picked up a shirt and looked it over frowning at it. The piece of clothing, if it could really be called that as it seemed more like an over sized rag; it was nearly three times the size of Harry, had a few holes in it and more than a few stains. Harry snatched the shirt away from him, rolling it up into a ball before shoving it back into his trunk.

“Doesn't matter if they're folded or not, as long as they're in my trunk, right?” Harry asked.

“Harry...” Blaise started to speak but Harry looked at him sharply.

“They're hand me down clothes, they used to belong to my cousin, they're all pretty much ruined anyway so it doesn't really matter if I take care of them or not,” Harry said before Blaise could ask anything about the state of the clothing that wasn't his school uniform. It was the most that Harry had ever said about his relatives to Blaise.

“I think maybe some time during the week, we should take you out shopping, get you a real wardrobe,” Blaise suggested and Harry shook his head.

“I don't want to do that. If, for some reason, I have to go back there...” Harry trailed off when Blaise pulled him into a hug.

“You're not going back there, I can promise you that right now,” Blaise said and Harry sighed.

“How can you promise something like that? They're my legal guardians, Blaise. Everyone keeps saying that I won't have to go back there but how can I believe something like that? I've had to go back every year, even if I asked to go somewhere else,” Harry said leaning against Blaise when the tan boy tightened his arms around Harry.

“Because I won't let you go back, and neither will Draco. I think at this point Professor Snape wouldn't even let you go back. Not to mention your Godfather, and the werewolf,” Blaise pointed out.

“Remus does have a name, you know. Just because he's a werewolf doesn't make him any less of a person,” Harry said seriously and Blaise sighed.

“The point is,” Blaise said choosing not to get into the werewolf debate with Harry, “you aren't going back to those muggles. And I can promise that; even if Draco and I have to kidnap and run away with you, we will make sure you are safe,” Blaise promised.

Harry couldn't help but smile at that, even if it was still difficult to believe. “A couple of shirts and maybe some trousers,” Harry said looking up at Blaise, who raised an eyebrow at him. “If you are going to insist on taking me shopping, that's all I will be buying. I don't want to end up with a wardrobe like Draco's,” Harry said seriously and Blaise laughed leaning down and kissing Harry's forehead.

“I think even if you tried, you wouldn't be able to have a wardrobe like Draco's,” Blaise said, letting Harry go when the smaller boy pulled out of the embrace. The green-eyed boy looked around the room and sighed.

“I suppose if I'm going to get a few new clothes, it might be pointless to pack the rest of this,” Harry said, looking back at Blaise, who looked at the mess as well.

“You're probably right. How about we stack it all somewhere for now, and when we get back with your new clothes, you can set fire to these?” Blaise suggested, smiling widely when Harry started laughing.

“I don't know, some of those clothes might be hazardous to set on fire, I might just have to banish them,” Harry said, laughing again softly.

“We can decide what to do with them later,” Blaise said pulling Harry close once more for a quick kiss. “Though if you're finished packing now, why don't you come help me pack my trunk, then we can get an early dinner when Draco get's back,” Blaise suggested.

“Where is Draco anyway?” Harry asked. “I thought you two had the same final class.” Harry looked up at the tan boy, who nodded.

“We did but he wanted to talk to Professor Snape before we leave tomorrow, so he'll be back in about an hour or so,” Blaise informed the smaller boy before pulling him out of the room and across the hall. “Now since I helped you, you can help me,” Blaise said and Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

“I didn't ask for your help though,” Harry reminded him, but allowed Blaise to pull him along.

“Well, then you can just sit on the bed and watch me pack,” Blaise said with a shrug, sitting Harry on the bed before turning to his wardrobe and started pulling out clothes that he wanted for the coming week. He then turned and did the same for Draco, so that his blond boyfriend wouldn't need to do his own packing.

Harry sat watching Blaise quietly while the tan boy packed the two trunks quickly, his mind wandering to the upcoming week. He was a little nervous about seeing Draco's mother again; even though the blond woman had been more than nice to him during dinner on New Years, it was his fault that she had to be in hiding at the moment. But that was nothing compared to how nervous he was about meeting Blaise's mother; Harry had at least known a little bit about Narcissa before he met her but Harry knew next to nothing about the Italian woman he would be meeting tomorrow.

“Harry?” Blaise was the one who broke the silence in the room. Green eyes looked up to see Blaise's brow creased with worry as he looked at Harry. “Are you alright?” Blaise asked and Harry nodded, before shaking his head instead.

“I don't know,” Harry sighed. “I'm excited about tomorrow, I really am. But... I suppose I'm also worried. I mean, what if Mrs. Malfoy is mad at me? What if your mother doesn't like me?” Harry asked looking at Blaise who came to sit next to him on the bed.

“Harry, Draco's mother isn't going to be mad at you,” Blaise said softly.

“How do you know that? It's my fault she has to be in hiding at the moment,” Harry reminded the Italian.

“Because, to her, being in hiding is preferable to being in the same house as the Dark Lord,” Blaise said. “And as for my mother, she can be a hard person to get along with sometimes, I won't lie to you about that, but once she gets to know you, there is no possible way that she would ever hate you,” Blaise said, hoping to be a little reassuring to the smaller boy.

“But she doesn't like me right now, does she?” Harry asked and Blaise raised an eyebrow at him.

“My mother doesn't make a habit of hating people she doesn't know,” Blaise said. “She isn't happy about the situation, but that's mostly because I never thought to write to her and inform her of everything that's been happening since Halloween. If there is anyone she's going to be angry with, it will be me.” Blaise reached up, running his fingers through Harry's hair soothingly. “Try not to worry about it, okay? Mrs. Malfoy isn't going to be mad at you, and my mother isn't going to hate you.”

“I'm still going to worry about it,” Harry said with a small smile.

“Yeah, you do tend to worry about silly things,” Blaise said smiling back at Harry. “Maybe I could make you worry a little less?” Blaise suggested leaning down to steal a kiss from Harry. He smiled against the soft lips when Harry leaned into the kiss. Blaise started to pull away but stopped when Harry's hands grabbed him. Blaise braced himself with one hand on the bed near Harry's hip and slid the other around Harry pulling the smaller boy closer.

Harry let out a small moan when he felt Blaise's arm tighten around him. Over the last few weeks both Blaise and Draco had stolen plenty of kisses from him but Harry had always let them be the ones to take it that little bit further, as he hadn't been too sure about what to do. Harry was feeling a little more sure of himself today and tentatively he ran his tongue over the tan boy's lower lip.

Harry suddenly found himself laying on his back, Blaise leaning over him. Harry's one small move seemed to have been permission enough for Blaise to completely ravage Harry's mouth, kissing the smaller boy senseless while a hand found its way up Harry's shirt, fingers brushing lightly over Harry's stomach, lifting the shirt a bit further. That's when Harry broke the kiss with a gasp, one of his smaller hands grabbing Blaise's to stop the tan boy from lifting the shirt any more.

"Blaise." Harry stared up at the Italian, his cheeks flushed and eyes slightly wider than normal.

"I won't do anything you don't like, Harry," Blaise promised, smiling down at the green-eyed boy.

"I like the kissing," Harry admitted softly. Blaise chuckled and nodded before leaning back down to capture Harry's mouth in another kiss. This one, however, didn't last all that long as they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat loudly; both Harry and Blaise looked to see Draco standing in the doorway.

"I thought you said you were going to be packing?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow at Blaise, who smirked at him.

"It's done, and I found myself with some free time before dinner," Blaise said with a shrug of his shoulder.

"So you decided to take advantage of Harry, on my bed?" Draco questioned.

"I was hardly taking advantage of him." Blaise snorted in amusement. Draco looked from Blaise to the red-faced Harry, who's shirt was still half up, Blaise's tan hand still resting on the small boy's stomach.

“If you say so,” Draco said with a shrug of his shoulder.

“We were just kissing,” Harry said, sitting up and pulling his shirt back down, ignoring the disappointed look that crossed Blaise's face.

“I doubt Blaise would have stopped at kissing if you had let him continue,” Draco said with a smirk and Harry blushed brighter. “Though, if you would like to continue, I could send your friends away, then I could join you?” Draco suggested, chuckling when Harry's eyes widened before he hurried out of the room and out to the common room where Hermione was sitting and waiting with Fred and George, while Ron was looking around the room as this was the first time that he had been there.

“There you are, Harry,” George said with a grin.

“We've been knocking on the door for nearly an hour! We thought you weren't here,” Fred added and Hermione rolled her eyes.

“It wasn't quite that long. We thought that you might have been held back after one of your classes, so we were waiting for you to get back. But Malfoy said you and Zabini should have already been here,” Hermione explained.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Blaise was helping me get my trunk packed before tomorrow, I kind of let that slide until the last minute,” Harry admitted with a small smile when Hermione let out an exasperated sigh.

“I don't understand why you and Ron always insist on putting things off until the last minute,” she said, shaking her head.

“Because life is so much more fun when you can procrastinate about everything,” Ron said, grinning, before looking over to Harry. Things between them still weren't the way they used to be, and Harry had probably been right about the fact that they never would be again, but they were getting better; a few conversations and a couple meals together and things had been getting better.

“So why are you guys here? I have been coming down to the Great Hall more often, I would have seen you at dinner in half an hour,” Harry said, watching as Hermione and the twins looked towards Ron and Harry frowned wondering if something else had happened with his friend.

Ron sighed, running a hand through his hair. “They set a trial date for McLaggen. They had been trying to decide if the trial should be in the summer after school but someone had the bright idea of having it during spring break, where it wouldn't interrupt my schooling,” Ron said with a huff.

“Thing is, the trial is mostly just a farce,” Fred added. “They already know the verdict and just need Ron there to give his side of the story, point his finger at McLaggen, and it's off to Azkaban for him.”

Harry frowned at that. “If they already know he's guilty, why do they even need Ron there?” Harry asked.

“Not just Ron apparently, we think you're going to get a summons as well,” Hermione said.

“I haven't gotten anything though,” Harry said, his frown deepening as he looked from Hermione to Ron and back again.

“The only reason Ron knows about the trial is because Mr. Weasley sent him an owl; he hasn't even gotten the official summons yet. I expect that you'll be getting one sometime in the next few days,” Hermione explained.

“But I'm not going to be here... I'm going to be in Italy...” Harry said, his eyes wide.

“We know,” Hermione said and again glanced at Ron, who was occupying himself by looking at a couple of the paintings at the wall. Harry bit his lip as he watched his red-headed friend.

“I think... maybe there's a way I could get there from Blaise's house...” Harry said and Ron's attention snapped towards him in surprise. “I don't know what they could really want me there for, but... if you need me there, Ron, I can find a way to make it?” Harry offered and Ron smiled.

“I don't know if it'll be that easy, Harry,” Ron said. “I attacked you and I used the Imperious curse on Seamus and Dean as well,” Ron reminded him and Harry frowned.

“They can't want me there to send you to Azkaban,” Harry said. “You were under the curse yourself, you can't be held accountable for what you did!”

“Can't I?” Ron snapped.

“No, you can't!” Harry snapped back. “We talked about this, and I thought I had gotten it through that thick skull of yours! It. Wasn't. Your. Fault!” Harry's raised voice brought Blaise and Draco into the room quickly. Draco looked between Harry and Ron before stepping between them.

“I thought you just came here to talk, if you're going to start fighting with Harry, you can get out,” Draco hissed, but a hand on his arm had him turning his attention towards Harry instead.

“No, Draco,” Harry said, pulling him back before looking at Ron. “If you want me there, Ron, I'll be there, and not to send you to Azkaban either. Things might be different now but you're still my friend, and I don't blame you for anything that you did or said,” Harry informed him.

“See, little brother.” George grinned at Ron. “We told you that you were being stupid about all this,” George said and Ron glared at him.

“If you don't want me there, that's fine too,” Harry added. “But if I don't see you back in school after Easter break, then I'm going to the Ministry and setting them straight,” Harry said, satisfied to see Ron actually smile at that.

“Thanks, mate,” Ron said with a small sigh.

Fred glanced around the room before looking at Harry. “So,” the red-headed twin said, breaking the silence, “since it's nearly dinner time now, why don't you just come down to the Great Hall with us, Harry?” he suggested. “If that is alright with your personal bodyguards,” Fred added, looking to Blaise and Draco.

“We're not his bodyguards,” Draco snapped and Blaise chuckled, leaning down so he could speak in his blond boyfriend's ear.

“I don't think Harry's really told them that we're officially dating,” Blaise whispered and Draco rolled his eyes.

“They know we both have a signature bond with Harry; if they don't know what that means, then it's their own fault for being stupid,” Draco hissed back quietly.

“So how about it, Harry?” George asked, “care to ditch these two snakes and join us for dinner?” he asked, extending his arm to the smaller boy, who just laughed.

“Yes, dear Harry, we have missed the presence of your company. Come join us and we shall whisk you away from the near snake pit you have been trapped in,” Fred said, also offering his arm to Harry, who laughed harder, shaking his head.

“No, it's okay. I'll meet you guys down there okay?” Harry said. Still smiling, he turned to Blaise and Draco, only to be stopped when he was grabbed by his arms and lifted off the ground.

“In that case, we shall kidnap you from this evil lair!” George proclaimed loudly as Harry kicked his feet that weren't even touching the floor now.

“Oi! Put me down!” Harry demanded, even as he was turned and carried towards the door. Harry, however, suddenly found himself in Blaise's arms, the tan boy grinning while Draco held his wand at the twins.

“You'll have to do better than that if you want to take Harry from us,” Draco smirked, though Harry could tell that he wasn't really serious. “Why don't you run along, and if we are feeling generous we may let Harry out of our sight long enough to allow him to join you for dinner.”

“Curses, we have been foiled again,” George said, grinning.

“Next time we shall prevail!” Fred said as he and George backed away towards the door before leaving. Harry stared after them then looked up at Blaise.

“So what do I get for rescuing from the twin terrors?” Blaise asked and Harry smiled leaning up and pressing his lips to Blaise's.

Pulling back Harry smiled. “Now put me down,” he said and Blaise chuckled but did as he was told. Harry took the couple steps towards Draco, pulling him into a quick kiss as well. “Thanks for not letting them carry me off,” Harry said and Draco shrugged.

“If anyone's carrying you anywhere, it will be either me or Blaise,” Draco said and then glanced over to where Ron and Hermione were still standing. “What are you two looking at?” the blond by snapped.

“Nothing,” Hermione said but she was smiling, looking towards Harry. “We'll see you at dinner, Harry,” she said before taking Ron by the arm and leading him out of the room. The red-headed boy was still staring at Harry as they went; knowing his best friend was bonded to the two Slytherins was one thing, but actually seeing Harry kiss them was still a little shocking for Ron. Harry shook his head watching them go.

“If you want to eat, shouldn't we be going down as well?” Harry asked looking at Draco.

“We will, in a little while once I've checked to see if you and Blaise have packed properly,” Draco said with a small smirk before heading down the hall towards their rooms.

In the end Harry had had to endure nearly an hour of Draco unpacking, and then re-packing, his own trunk before the blond turned to attack Blaise's trunk next. Thankfully the tan boy stopped him and steered Draco out of the room. Harry smiled and followed the two of them quickly.

“We're all packed,” Blaise said, not letting go of Draco as he guided his blond boyfriend down the hall to the common room. “If you want to go through my trunk after dinner, that's fine, but for right now I'm hungry, so let's go eat,” Blaise said and Draco glanced back at him.

“It won't take me that long to make sure yours and Harry's trunks are packed properly,” Draco said but allowed the Italian boy to lead him out of the common room anyway.

“My trunk is fine, you don't need to check it,” Harry said still following his two boyfriends. Harry honestly just didn't want Draco to see most of his clothing; Blaise hadn't reacted to badly to Harry owning his cousin's hand me down clothes but Harry had the feeling that Draco might have a bit more of a reaction to the old worn out shirts and trousers.

“Harry's trunk is still mostly empty anyway, because he and I decided that we're going to go shopping, and get him some new clothes,” Blaise said and nearly laughed when he saw how excited Draco seemed at that idea; though his facial expressing never changed, Blaise saw the blond boy's eyes light up and look in the direction of Harry.

“A couple shirts, and maybe two or three trousers. I don't need anything more than that,” Harry said quickly, trying to make sure that Draco knew it wasn't going to be a huge shopping trip.

Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry and shrugged a shoulder. “If you say so,” he smirked. Harry shook his head, deciding it would be better to just argue with Draco later if he tried insisting Harry needed more clothing.

When they reached the Great Hall, Harry split off from his two boyfriends and made his way over to the Gryffindor table and a space was made for him next George across from where Hermione and Fred were sitting. Things felt more normal now than they had since the previous Halloween and Harry was happier than he had been in a long while. Even if he was still unsure about meeting Blaise's mother the following day, Harry pushed that worry off to the side for now and just enjoyed the time he had with his friends.

\-------------x

Harry had enjoyed dinner with his fellow Gryffindors but his restless mind meant that, when he retired to his bedroom, he still had trouble sleeping; he was far too nervous, despite both Draco and Blaise having reassured him that he was just being silly. Even Harry had to admit his anxiety about the situation was rather stupid, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't think of any good way that he could be introduced to Blaise's mother, and he had no idea how the woman was going to react.

It was nearing four in the morning before Harry finally gave up on sleeping; he wanted to go for a walk, however, after how worried his bond-mates had gotten after the last two times, Harry decided that he would just go sit in the common room for a few hours. Sliding out of bed, Harry paused for a moment, grabbing his mother's diary out of his trunk before heading out to the common room to wait for Blaise or Draco to wake up.

Harry started a fire in the grate and settled down in front of it, opening the diary to a random page and starting to read. He somehow felt closer to his mother every time that he read her diary, just as he felt closer to his father when using the cloak. Turning the pages slowly, Harry once again found himself absorbed in what he was reading. Harry had been happy enough to just have the diary, something that his mother had owned, had touched, but every time he read the words, taking in his mother's elegant writing, he was finding more than a materialistic connection to his mother in this book.

Some passages she had written were about some of her favorite charms, notes on spells that she wanted to remember, but halfway through the diary Harry came upon a passage that took up nearly three pages of writing. His mother had written about her parents, and her sister, and how much she cared about them and loved them but being part of the magical world now, she was going to have to leave her family behind. Harry felt his heart aching for his mother and what she must have gone through, what it must have been like to come to that conclusion that she belonged in a different world than her family.

Harry never had that, would never have that. His family never cared about him and would most likely celebrate when they found out that he would never have to darken their doorstep again; it was difficult for him to associate the sister Lily had clearly loved with the Aunt who had hated him. Harry closed the diary, setting it aside, and stared into the fire. His mother had loved her family and, from what he had read so far, it sounded like at least his grandparents had loved Lily very much. It was only Petunia who had been jealous, hated everything to do with magic.

It was only the Dursleys who had hated him; Harry had known that they had never loved him, and the small hope he had once had that he could make them love him, that hope was long dead. It was only now that Harry had admitted, to not only others but himself as well, that the Dursleys had abused him, that they never loved him, that Harry came to another conclusion. It wasn't just being loved or unloved by his family, it was the fact that they had never wanted him to begin with. His mere presence was an eyesore to them.

Harry laughed softly to himself. “Voldemort cares more about my existence than those people,” he said, mostly as a joke, trying to cheer himself up from his rapidly depressing thoughts. But in some twisted way it was actually true; Voldemort hated him, and his main goal was to make sure that Harry Potter would not foil his plans again, the Dark Wizard would seek Harry out just to kill him, while the Dursleys just didn't care, they couldn't even be bothered with the boy who had been dumped on them.

Harry wrapped his arms around his legs, pulling them close to his chest while his chin rested on his knees. He hardly noticed it when the first tear started to fall, followed by a second and before Harry knew it he couldn't stop and his body shook as he tried to quiet his sobs.

When Harry felt arms wrap around him from behind, the small boy turned quickly, not even looking to see who it was he latched onto. Fingers started combing through Harry's hair as the small boy curled up tight against the strong chest, hands clutching at the silk shirt. Someone else was next to him, another set of arms wrapped around him, and Harry heard someone speaking softly to him, but he didn't pay any attention to what they were saying. He just screamed, holding tighter onto the first person who had offered him comfort, Harry screamed out all of the pain, and anger, letting his magic flow out of him freely so as not to let it build up and cause him more pain; he had had enough pain to last a life time.

Harry wasn't sure how long he had screamed, he did know that his throat hurt from it though, and his leg felt as if it were cramping; that was a good indication that he had been sitting on the floor for quite some time.

“Harry?” Draco asked when the smaller boy grew quiet. Green eyes slowly blinked up at him and Draco gave him a small smile. “Feel better?” he asked and Harry just nodded, either unable or unwilling to speak at the moment.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Blaise asked and Harry turned his head slightly to look at Blaise.

“...maybe later...” Harry said in a horse whisper. Blaise nodded, knowing now wasn't the time to push Harry for answers. He gently took the smaller boy from Draco, holding him close.

“Let's go curl back up in bed for a little while longer, it's still too early to be awake,” Blaise suggested and Harry couldn't protest, feeling more tired now than he had all night. He rested his head against Blaise's shoulder, allowing himself to be carried from the common room to Blaise and Draco's room.

Blaise settled Harry on the bed before climbing in next to him, while Draco followed, snuggling up closer to Harry's back. “We've got you, Harry,” Draco whispered. “No one's going to hurt you like that again,” Draco said and Harry wanted to ask how Draco knew what he'd been thinking about but soft lips pressed against his and Harry sighed closing his eyes, allowing Draco to kiss him.

“Get some sleep, Harry,” Blaise encouraged, watching as Draco pulled back from Harry; the smaller boy didn't open his eyes again and drifted to sleep. Blaise and Draco both watched as Harry's breathing evened out, sure that Harry was now really asleep Blaise looked to Draco. “What was that about, Draco?” Blaise questioned.

The blond boy shook his head. “I don't fully know, I can make some guesses, but I think it would be best if we just wait and asked Harry in the morning,” Draco said.

Blaise sighed, not really happy with that answer, but nodded his agreement anyway. Keeping an arm wrapped protectively around Harry, the tan boy settled back down to get some more sleep; it was going to be a long day today and Blaise knew he would need the extra hours of sleep if he was going to introduce his mother to Harry.

\-------------x

Harry grumbled softly when he felt someone shifting around on the bed, a soft chuckle and someone was gently touching his cheek. Harry swatted the hand away, his eyes still closed and he curled up tighter to the warm body.

“Harry, it's time to wake up,” Blaise whispered in his ear.

“...hmm...no...” Harry said sleepily turning to hide his face.

“You know, for someone who likes to be awake at four in the morning, you're sure not a morning person,” Draco commented.

“sha'dup...” Harry grumbled.

“If you don't get up now, Harry, we're going to be late for the train,” Blaise said, however, Harry still didn't move, seeming quite content to stay curled next to Blaise, his head still resting on the tan boy's chest.

"I'm still tired though..." Harry complained but sat up anyway rubbing at his eyes. Blaise chuckled, sitting up as well and kissing Harry's cheek.

"You can nap on the train," Blaise promised before sliding out of bed. Harry sighed, falling back into the bed and curling himself around one of Blaise's pillows.

Draco rolled his eyes at Harry; they had all slept in a little later than usual, which meant that they didn't have time to fight to get Harry out of bed right now. So Draco pulled out his wand, flicking it at the bed and watched in amusement as the mattress flipped up and dumped Harry onto the floor. The smaller boy screaming as he landed on the floor.

"You need to get up now," Draco said and wasn't fully prepared to feel the sudden anger coming from the smaller boy.

"I was getting up!" Harry snapped as he got to his feet. "You didn't have to throw me out of bed like that! Would letting me lay there for five more minutes really have been that much trouble?" Harry asked, glaring at Draco.

"We are already running late, we don't even have time for breakfast this morning," Draco said, sounding more than a little annoyed.

“Then just TELL me! Don't throw me out of bed!” Harry yelled. Blaise was between the two of them then hoping to stop the fight before it really got going.

“Stop this now,” Blaise told both of them, before looking at Harry. “Are you hurt?” he asked. The green eyed boy blinked at him.

“What?”

“Are you hurt?” Blaise repeated and Harry shook his head.

“No, I don't think so...” Harry answered.

“Harry, we are really running late, we let you sleep in as long as possible, but you need to get dressed so that we don't miss the train,” Blaise said then turned to look at Draco. “And Draco, there are more tactful ways of getting Harry out of bed.”

“Then he should have gotten up when we told him to,” Draco argued.

“I was getting up!” Harry said and Blaise turned to face Harry blocking the smaller boy's view of Draco.

“Please go get dressed, Harry?” he requested and Harry glared before turning and storming out of the room slamming his door shut and Blaise sighed before looking back at Draco again.

“We're already missing breakfast because of him,” Draco said and Blaise sighed.

“It's not like we're going to starve, Draco. I know you're still tired too, and that's the only reason why you're this short tempered, but you know he had a rough night so please, just lay off?” Blaise requested.

“Fine,” Draco agreed. “I'm going to head down now, maybe I'll be able to grab some toast from the Great Hall,” Draco said and left the room. Blaise sighed again, shaking his head. He hated it when Draco got like this; he just hoped that Draco's bad mood didn't affect Harry. Going across the hall, Blaise knocked on the door to Harry's room.

“Harry, you ready?” Blaise asked. There was no answer and the tan boy frowned, knocking again, this time the door opened and Harry looked up at him.

“You didn't have to wait for me,” Harry said, smiling a bit. “I would have caught up to you and Draco,” he said and Blaise gave Harry a curious look.

“I wanted to wait for you. Draco went to see if he could grab a little bit of food and he'll meet us by the carriages,” Blaise said and Harry nodded.

“Okay, let's go,” the smaller boy said and he followed Blaise out of their rooms and down to the Great Hall. Draco was waiting by the front doors for them instead of by the carriages, handing an egg sandwich to Blaise before looking at Harry and holding out a sandwich for him as well. Harry looked up and stared into Draco's grey eyes; the blond boy didn't say anything as he held the sandwich out but Harry felt Draco's emotions very clearly. Even though he didn't say it out-loud, the blond was sorry for how he had gotten Harry out of bed.

Smiling, Harry took the sandwich, leaning up and giving Draco a chaste kiss on the lips. “Thank you, Draco,” he said. Taking a bite of his sandwich, Harry followed his two bond-mates out to the carriages.

The short ride down to the train was silent and when they reached the train, Blaise lead them towards the back compartments, where there weren't as many students trying to get on. Once inside their compartment, Draco closed and locked the door, taking a seat next to the window and Harry took the seat across from him.

“Can I get some more sleep now?” Harry asked, not looking at either Blaise or Draco.

“Of course you can,” Blaise said and watched as Harry took his cloak off before laying down on the bench, pulling the black material up and over his head. Blaise sighed and sat down next to Draco. “Are you going to get some more sleep too?” the tan boy questioned. Draco shook his head.

“No, I should be fine now that I've eaten something.” Draco sighed, looking at Harry. “I really didn't think he would react that badly to being dumped out of bed,” Draco said softly, leaning against Blaise. “Something I should probably remember; Harry has a bad tempter if he doesn't get enough sleep.”

Blaise chuckled. “Sounds like someone else I know,” he said running his fingers through Draco's hair. “Really, why don't you get a couple hours sleep while you still can? You now that Pansy and Theo are probably going to be by looking for you by then, and then you'll never get a nap.”

Draco sighed and nodded, deciding that Blaise was probably right. Shifting so that he could lay down and use Blaise's lap as a pillow, Draco closed his eyes, only intending on resting a little. However, he soon found himself falling asleep just as Harry had.

Blaise remained awake, keeping an eye on both Draco and Harry while the two younger boys slept. Blaise was still worried about the sudden and seemingly random emotional breakdown that Harry had had in the early hours of the morning. He wanted to ask Harry about it but had decided that he would wait until the smaller boy had gotten a bit more sleep.

\---------x

The train ride was nearly half over by the time Harry started waking up. Blaise watched, smiling, as Harry first lowered the cloak away from his face, blinking slowly at the ceiling of their compartment as he started waking up fully.

“You slept for a little over three hours,” Blaise said as Harry slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“Doesn't feel like I slept much at all,” Harry admitted, yawning and stretching.

“The trolley already came by. I got some food for you and Draco though.” Blaise shifted a little, grabbing some of the food and handing it to Harry, taking great care not to dislodge and wake Draco, who was still using him as a pillow.

“Not hungry... thank you though,” Harry said, smiling when Blaise gave him a worried look. “I just woke up, I'm not hungry, I may be in an hour or so,” Harry reassured the tan boy, who nodded and tucked the food away again. They fell into a comfortable silence as Harry shifted closer to the window so he could look out at the passing scenery. Harry was content to sit in silence, but he could practically feel Blaise watching him. Letting out a small sigh, he looked at the tan boy.

“What do you want to ask me?” Harry questioned, glancing over at Blaise, smiling at the confused look on the tan boy's face. “I can tell you want to ask me something, so please just ask and stop staring at me,” Harry requested.

“I didn't mean to stare,” Blaise admitted. “I wanted to ask if you felt any better after your nap,” Blaise said and Harry nodded turning his attention back out the window.

“I do feel better, I didn't sleep much last night...” Harry said, though that much had probably been obvious to Blaise since the tan boy had also been up early that morning.

“I figured as much,” Blaise said with a small sigh. “I also wanted to ask what happened this morning,” he said, knowing it would probably have been better to wait for Draco to wake up than ask Harry anything now. However, Blaise didn't want to push it off to the side for too long; Blaise hadn't ever seen Harry quite so upset before and it worried him.

Harry sighed again and didn't look back at Blaise. For a moment the tan boy thought that Harry wasn't going to answer, however, the smaller boy spoke before Blaise could ask another question. “It finally hit me that my relatives really didn't care about me at all. It wasn't just them not loving me or not taking care of me... or even just them hating me, they just didn't care at all. I could have died and they wouldn't have cared at all, as long as they weren't the ones who had to deal with me,” Harry said, still not looking at Blaise. He really didn't want to see the look of pity he was sure the tan boy was giving him now.

“Harry...” Blaise started to say but Harry cut him off.

“Don't.” Harry glanced at him. “I know you want to help, I know you want to say something like 'things will be better now' or 'you'll never have to go back there again' but I honestly just don't want to hear that at the moment,” Harry said.

“Truthfully, I don't know what to say,” Blaise admitted. “When I found out that Draco's father used to beat him, I didn't know what to say then either. I couldn't understand what he had gone through and I can't understand what you're going through. But, just because I don't understand, doesn't mean I don't want to know. You don't want to hear that I won't let you go back to those people, and that's fair, I won't say anything, but, my request of you is don't shut me out, just because I can't understand,” Blaise said and Harry stared at him unsure of what he should say or even do, so he looked back out the window for a moment.

“I'm not trying to shut anyone out,” Harry said softly, looking back at Blaise. “I'm just so used to dealing with things on my own...” he admitted.

“You don't have to,” Blaise pointed out and Harry nodded.

“I know, I'm just not used to it...” Harry sighed and stood up. “I'm going to stretch my legs for a bit,” he said, feeling like he might be running away from the conversation, and in a way he was. Harry wasn't sure what he could say to Blaise and if the tan boy started asking any more questions, Harry didn't know if he wanted to answer them. So, not waiting for a reply, Harry hurried out of the compartment closing the door behind him.

Blaise let out a long sigh and closed his eyes, thinking that it definitely would have been a better idea to wait until Draco was awake before trying to talk to Harry. But the smaller boy had answered his question, which was more than he had done before when it was something that concerned his relatives, so Blaise counted that as progress at the very least. Blaise settled back in his seat content to enjoy the rest of the train ride letting Harry have his time alone for now, there would be plenty of time to talk more later. 

TBC

And here is chapter 25! There are a few things that I have been asked that I would like to clear up however. 

#1: Harry may seem childlike at times, and frightened to talk about his abuse, but digging up something that huge and talking about it to anyone is a frightening thing to do, no matter how brave you're supposed to be. 

#2: My reference to him as small, or boy, is a mere description of his size compared to Blaise and Draco. 

#3: In my stories Blaise is both dark skinned AND Italian, if you look up the last name Zabini, it is a very Italian last name, 33% of people who have the last name Zabini are from Italy, therefore in my stories Blaise is Italian, though I don't think this really be that big of a deal due to the fact that he is a miner character that we are given enough information about him in the books to build our own version of him.


	26. Chapter 26

Bicky Monster is seriously amazing for helping me get this chapter and the last chapter all set and orginised! I hope you all enjoy the treat of another chapter!

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 26

Elladora was waiting for her son and his two bond-mates at King's Cross. She had wanted to send them a port-key that they could take from Hogwarts but Dumbledore had denied it, pointing out that something like that could easily be intercepted by the wrong people, which would have been fine had Narcissa not been staying at her house. So she was there on the platform, waiting for the train to pull in; glancing around her, she saw the other families also waiting. Among the people closest to her was someone that Elladora had never spoken to, but could recognise easily anyway. Molly Weasley stood also waiting for the train and her brood of children.

Elladora turned her attention away from the red-headed woman when she heard the sound of a whistle. Smiling softly, she watched the train pull into the station, coming to a stop. Many parents moved closer to the train, in a hurry to collect their children before the station became too crowded; Molly was among them. Elladora, however, remained where she was standing; she knew that her son would spot her easily enough.

The Italian woman watched as a group of red-headed children got off the train, Molly pulling each of them into a hug; Elladora noticed that the woman held onto her youngest son a bit longer than all the rest. And then Harry Potter stepped off the train; he was quickly pulled into a hug by the plump woman as well. Over the chatter of parents and students, Elladora could not hear what was being said to the small boy, but he did not seem comfortable with being hugged and pulled away as soon as was polite.

Elladora watched the door to see if her own son would emerge from there as well; when she didn't see him, she looked down the train, frowning when she saw him coming out of a compartment further towards the back. She remained where she was, watching as it was Blaise who approached the group of Weasley's while Draco stood back. After a few more minutes, Blaise managed to extract Harry from the sea of red-heads, hugging the smaller boy tightly before taking his hand. It was only then that Elladora stepped forward; she was now able to hear the conversation that Blaise was having with Harry.

“Draco and I convinced a couple older students to shrink our trunks for us, we'll have someone restore them once we're home and settled,” Blaise said, handing Harry's shrunken trunk over to the green-eyed boy, who looked at it with a small frown.

“Shrinking it doesn't damage anything in the trunk does it?” Harry questioned.

“All trunks have a spell woven into them when they're made, nothing happens to anything on the inside of them if something alters the outside, shrinking it just makes it easier to carry,” Blaise informed him, smiling.

“Blaise,” Elladora said when she was close enough that she could be heard without raising her voice. She smiled when her son's head snapped up to look at her and he grinned at her.

“Hello, mother,” he greeted. Elladora looked down at Harry, who visibly tensed and moved a little closer to Blaise. She gave her son a curious look but Blaise just sighed softly gently turning Harry so that the small boy was now facing her. “Mother, may I introduce Harry Potter,” Blaise said.

Green eyes slowly lifted until Harry was now fully looking at her; he didn't say anything and Elladora just nodded a greeting to him before her attention was back on Blaise. “If you are ready, I would like to return home,” she said, glancing over Blaise's shoulder at Draco. “I am sure that Draco is also eager to leave,” she said, giving him a small smile when the blond boy nodded. Turning, Elladora lead the three boys away from the crowd of people and students.

“My mother doesn't like crowds of people like this,” Blaise explained to Harry, who followed along silently.

“It is hardly the crowds that are the problem, Blaise,” Elladora said, having heard what he said. “I dislike the inane chatter of students,” she said before coming to a stop well away from anyone on the platform. She pulled out a book, holding it out to the three fifteen year old boys. Blaise and Draco grabbed onto the book without being prompted to. Harry, however, made no move to grab it.

“Harry.” Draco reached out gently, pulling Harry closer, placing the smaller boy's hand on the book before Elladora activated it. Harry closed his eyes tightly when he felt the familiar and unpleasant feeling of a hook grabbing him and pulling him to an unknown destination. He felt his feet connect with solid ground and he stumbled forwards nearly falling flat, but Draco held onto him tightly to make sure that that didn't happen.

“Thanks,” Harry whispered when he was standing up straight again.

“Maybe we should add magical travel lessons to the list of things you need to get better at,” Draco teased.

“Maybe later,” Harry smiled.

“Draco, your mother is waiting for you in the sitting room,” Elladora said.

“Thank you,” Draco replied smiling at her before looking down at Harry. “I will catch up with you and Blaise later,” Draco promised and Harry nodded pulling away from Draco and watching as the blond walked quickly through a set of double doors that lead to the main part of the house.

Blaise took Harry's hand then. “Come on, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping, then I can give you a tour of the house.” Blaise seemed excited to be able to show off his home and Harry nodded eagerly.

“I wish to have a word with you, Blaise, a house elf can show Mr. Potter where he will be sleeping,” Elladora said, giving Blaise a stern look.

“I will come and speak with you, mother, once I have shown Harry where his room is, or at least escorted him to the sitting room so he can sit with Draco and Mrs. Malfoy,” Blaise said and Harry looked at the tan boy, surprised that Blaise was actually arguing with his mother about this.

“Blaise, you haven't seen your mother in a while, I don't mind a house elf showing me to my room...” Harry said.

“But I do mind,” Blaise said firmly, looking down at Harry. Elladora didn't say anything, just stood back and watched the two boys in front of her.

“Why? Does it really matter who shows me my room?” Harry asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, having a house elf do it is so... impersonal, you're not just a house guest; you and I are bonded, it is more proper for me to show you around,” Blaise said.

“I am just a house guest though,” Harry pointed out and, leaning up, Harry gave Blaise a chaste kiss. “I don't mind a house elf showing me around. I can get settled in while you talk to your mother,” Harry said and Blaise frowned, still not liking it but nodding. He pulled Harry in for another quick kiss before he let the smaller boy go and followed his mother out of the entrance hall. Glancing back when he heard the sound of the a house elf appearing in front of Harry, Blaise smiled when his younger bond-mate immediately engaged the small creature in conversation.

Blaise followed his mother though the halls; passing the sitting room as it was occupied by Draco and Narcissa, they went into the library. Blaise closed the door behind him before turning to face his mother.

“Now, Blaise, do you care to explain to me what exactly has been going on?” Elladora asked, looking curiously at her son. “I hear nothing from you after October, and then the letter I do receive is a request that I invite Narcissa Malfoy into my home. When she arrives not only do I discover that she is now in hiding from her own husband but that her son is bonded to Harry Potter.”

Blaise knew his mother was angry at him, and displeased with the situation he had forced her into. “I am sorry,” Blaise said with a long sigh. “With everything going on, there wasn't much time to write home and, when I did find the time, everything I had to say I thought wasn't appropriate to put in a letter that could easily be intercepted,” Blaise said, knowing it wasn't a very good excuse.

“There were other ways that you could have contacted me, Blaise, other ways that I could have found out from you that you were also bonded to Harry Potter,” Elladora said. “Narcissa has explained things to me as best she could, but she also has very limited knowledge about everything that has transpired. Now I want you to sit and tell me everything that has happened,” Elladora demanded and Blaise let out another sigh before nodding; he knew that there was no getting out of this and his mother would continue acting indifferent to Harry unless she knew the full story.

\-------------x

Narcissa waited in the sitting room for Elladora to get back with the boys, it was the first time Narcissa had ever not gone to King's Cross to pick up Draco, but it was safer for her to remain here. The door to the sitting room opened and Narcissa looked over, smiling when her son walked into the room. Standing gracefully to greet Draco, she was a little surprised when the blond boy didn't say anything and just wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

“Draco?” Narcissa wrapped her own arms around her son as he rested his head on her shoulder.

“I've been so worried about you, mother,” Draco admitted and Narcissa smiled, resting her head on her son's head.

“Everything is fine, Draco. I was more worried for you, my dragon, when I received the invitation from Elladora.” Narcissa looked down at Draco when the blond boy pulled back a little. “I have been worried for all three of you boys,” Narcissa admitted much to Draco's surprise.

“You've been worried about Harry?” Draco asked.

“It is true that I do not know him well, however, it was difficult not to be worried about him when I read what was in the papers,” Narcissa said. “I would have thought after a disaster like that you or even Blaise would have written to inform myself or Elladora about what transpired. Elladora had to use some of her own contacts just to find out if Harry was alive or not.” Narcissa looked at Draco, who let out a long sigh.

“I am sorry, mother, one of us should have written. However, there have been other things of great concern that have taken priority,” Draco said and Narcissa looked at her son curiously.

“Then I suppose we have a great deal to talk about, however, before we have our discussion, I would like to see for myself that Harry is indeed unharmed after the ordeal in February,” Narcissa insisted and Draco couldn't help but smile at his mother's concern for Harry. 

“I will go and fetch him,” Draco said and turned leaving the study just in time to see Harry following a house elf up the stairs. “Harry,” Draco called out hurrying over to him, frowning at the house elf and then looking around for Blaise. “Where did Blaise go?”

“His mother wanted to talk to him,” Harry said with a shrug. “Weren't you talking to your own mother?” Harry questioned and Draco nodded.

“Yes, but she wants to talk to you too.” Draco took Harry's hand looking at the house elf. “You are dismissed,” he said and, before Harry could protest, he pulled the smaller boy back down the stairs and into the sitting room, where Narcissa was once again sitting down; the only thing that had changed in the room was there was now a tea tray set out on the table with three cups. Narcissa turned her attention back to the door when Draco came back in, leading Harry along.

“Hello, Harry,” Narcissa said, standing like she had done with Draco to greet the small green-eyed boy. "Is it acceptable to call you that? Mr Potter just seems far too formal given the circumstances."

“Um... hello ma'am, and sure,” Harry said hesitantly, nodding his greeting. He chewed on his lower lip as he waited for the elegant woman to say something else.

Narcissa smiled at the small boy, who seemed just as nervous now as he had during New Years. “Draco and I were just about to have tea, would you care to join us?” she offered.

Harry looked at Narcissa in surprise, glancing at Draco for a moment before nodding. “Alright,” he said and allowed Draco to pull him over to sit on the settee across from Narcissa before sitting down next to him. Harry watched as the blond woman waved her wand and started preparing the tea. No one spoke and Harry started fidgeting nervously, not really fond of the silence. A pale hand touched his, causing Harry to jump slightly and look at Draco, who smiled reassuringly.

“Calm down, Harry,” Draco chuckled. “My mother isn't angry at you, I already told you this, Blaise already told you this,” Draco said softly to Harry.

“He is correct, Harry. Believe me that if I were angry with you, you would have known it.” Narcissa smiled kindly at him as she handed him a cup of tea, which he took, nodding his thanks.

“I kind of figured that... but some people aren't always very open about their anger...” Harry said, looking down at the cup in his hands.

“I can assure you, I am not angry, upset, or displeased with you in anyway,” Narcissa reassured him. “Now that that is out of the way, how has school been going for you? I know you were having difficulties before,” Narcissa said, handing a cup of tea over to Draco before picking up her own.

Harry stared at her for a moment, a little take aback by such a normal question, “I... I'm doing better, I'm still having trouble with potions but Draco is helping me as much as he can with that,” Harry said, taking a sip of his tea.

Narcissa nodded. “Draco has always been very good at potions; Severus is a very good teacher, though I suppose he can be a little hard on some students,” Narcissa admitted, knowing that Snape always favored students in his own house over any other.

“Professor Snape,” Harry started but paused for a moment, biting his lip as he thought about the best way to explain things. Glancing at Draco, the blond boy gave him an encouraging smile and Harry took a deep breath before he continued talking. “I'm never going to really like Snape, but I suppose he's not as bad as I originally thought he was,” Harry said softly and Narcissa gave him a curious look.

“Uncle Severus has been counseling Harry, the same way he was giving me counseling before,” Draco explained and Narcissa looked even more curious now as she looked back at Harry.

“I know it is very rude of me to ask, but have you-” she started to say but Harry cut her off.

“My relatives hate magic, and everything to do with it,” Harry answered the unfinished question before he changed his mind about it. It was getting easier to talk about the Dursleys, maybe not at length, but Harry was proud of himself for being able to tell Narcissa that little bit.

“I see,” Narcissa said, not looking or sounding shocked as she studied Harry and had to wonder if it had been because of his treatment at home that his magic had called out to and bonded with Draco, because of their similar situations. “I hope you can forgive me for asking such a personal question, I know it can't be easy to tell a near stranger something like that,” Narcissa said.

"It is honestly easier than I thought it would be. I am having an easier time talking to either people who already think badly of me, or people I don't really know. But my friends... or people I have known for a while and care about... that is harder to do, and I don't know why," Harry said softly.

"That may be because you are worried that their opinion of you may change, that they will treat you differently than they are now when they know the truth," Narcissa said and Harry looked at her with wide eyes. He hadn't really realised it, however, having someone point it out like that, Harry could only agree that he was worried about what not only Sirius and Remus would think, but how Draco and Blaise would react as well; they all knew about the abuse but none of them knew how bad it was. Snape knew, but that had only been by accident, but even then it was still easier to talk to the Potions Master because Harry was fairly sure that Snape's opinion of him couldn't get any lower.

“Harry?” Draco looked concerned at his small boyfriend in concern, picking up on Harry's suddenly conflicting emotions.

“I'm okay... though I think I'd like to be shown to my room now... I need to think,” Harry admitted softly, not caring if it was rude to excuse himself so suddenly. Draco stood to go with him but Harry shook his head. “I'll just have the house elf show me, really, Draco, I'm fine,” Harry reassured but Draco gave him a skeptical look. “I promise, I just... I need some time alone to think for a bit,” Harry said.

Draco nodded, leaning down give Harry a quick kiss at the corner of his mouth. He smiled when he pulled back to see Harry's cheeks were now bright red. Draco called for the house elf to take Harry to his room. The smaller boy excused himself before following the small creature out of the room, Draco took his seat again to resume the conversation with his mother; he would let Harry be alone for a little while and check on him later.

\-------------x

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 26

Harry looked around the room that he had been shown to it was a lot larger than he had expected it to be. He had asked the house elf if Blaise and Draco would be staying in this room too, thinking that maybe that was the reason why it was so large. The small creature had only looked at him in confusion before explaining that Blaise had his own room down the hall and, as Draco had visited there quite often while growing up, he also had his own room that was connected to Blaise's. So this room was just Harry's, but that didn't make the small boy any more comfortable.

The room itself seemed like it could have held all of downstairs of the Dursleys’ house, though maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration; the large walk in closet was easily the largest closet that Harry had ever seen, and he couldn't help but think that if the cupboard under the stairs had been this size, it could have easily passed as a small bedroom. Shaking his head, he exited the closet and looked at the décor of the room. The four poster bed drew his attention as it dominated the room, it had a very nice set of ivory colored hangings and a darker almost gold color bed spread, two simple tables sat on either side of it.

Turning his attention to the rest of the room, Harry spotted a desk across the room from where the bed was and quills were lined up in a holder that seemed to have been built into the desk, right next to a built in ink well. Harry thought that was rather creative, less chance of spilling ink all over everything. Finally he turned his attention to the floor-to-ceiling windows, which had heavy drapes covering them. Wanting to see exactly where he was, Harry went to one of the windows to take a look, only to discover that the window was in fact a door that lead out onto a balcony.

From out there Harry could see the city just down the hill from where they were; the white colored buildings with the rust colored roofs where nice to look at but what truly made the site breath taking was the vividly blue water that lay just beyond the city. It seemed to make the city stand out all the more.

“Harry?” someone called from inside his room and Harry turned going back inside to see Blaise. The tan boy smiled at him.

“How do you like your room?” Blaise asked and Harry could only shrug a shoulder. “They're not to your liking?”

“They're really nice,” Harry reassured quickly. “They're just... so big,” Harry admitted. “I thought at first that maybe I was sharing a room with you and Draco, but Toory told me that this was just my room, that you and Draco had your own rooms down the hall...”

Blaise moved forward wrapping his arms around Harry. “You don't have to sleep in here if you don't want to. It is still going to be your room, a place for you to go if you want to be alone, but you are more than welcome to stay the night in my room with me and Draco,” Blaise said.

“Really?” Harry asked, seeming a bit happier about that than the idea of staying in this large room by himself.

“Yes really, I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't serious,” Blaise said, chuckling. “Now, come along. My mother has ordered the house elves to prepare an early dinner for us,” Blaise said, taking Harry's hand and leading him out of the room and back down the stairs.

“I'm not really all that hungry, Blaise,” Harry said but he made no effort to pull his hand away from the tan boy.

“You hardly ate anything today, Harry, just that sandwich that Draco got you and a few snacks on the train. How can you not be hungry?” Blaise questioned.

“I suppose I'm still nervous about being in a new place?” Harry said with a shrug of his shoulder. “I don't know...” Harry didn't really want to say what he was thinking out loud, but he was still fairly sure that Blaise's mother didn't like him all that much.

“What's there to be nervous about?” Blaise asked looking over his shoulder at Harry. “You're not still worried about my mother are you?” The Italian boy frowned, stopping to so he could turn and face Harry when the smaller boy didn't answer. “That's it, isn't it?” Blaise questioned and Harry sighed nodding slowly.

“I know she doesn't know me, and you told me she can be difficult to get along with sometimes,” Harry said, staring at the floor.

Blaise let out a long sigh. “Harry, my mother was not pleased with me, I explained that to you before we came here and she isn't all that happy about the situation, but I've explained things to her and she knows that I am bonded to you, and no matter what she says or does I'm not going to let you go,” Blaise promised.

“But she's your mother.” Harry looked at Blaise, confused.

“Yes she is,” Blaise said smiling at Harry. “And I am sixteen, nearly seventeen. While my mother may not be happy about it, she understands that I am old enough to be making my own life choices,” Blaise said. “Now come along, before my mother sends someone to look for us,” Blaise said and started leading Harry down to the dining room.

Draco was already seated at the table next to his mother, and Blaise's mother was seated at the end of the table. Blaise smiled when he felt Harry hold his hand a little tighter as Elladora looked up at them.

“There you are, I was beginning to wonder what was taking so long,” Elladora said, watching as Blaise pulled a chair out for Harry before taking the seat next to him.

“Harry was admiring the view from his room,” Blaise said and Elladora nodded her understanding.

“Do you have any plans to go down into the city this week, Mr. Potter?” she asked and Harry was surprised to have the question directed at him.

“I...um...I think so?” he said, unsure as he looked to Blaise, who chuckled.

“Yes, mother, we do plan on taking Harry down to the city. He is in need of some new clothes as the one's he currently has are... outdated,” Blaise said and Elladora nodded.

“They're not that bad,” Harry huffed. “But I do need a few things,” he admitted before Blaise could comment on the state of the clothing, most of which had been left at Hogwarts.

Elladora nodded. “Do you know when you plan on going? I would like to spend some time with you, Mr. Potter, as I would like to know more about the young man who has bonded to my Blaise,” Elladora said and was very polite about it.

“I don't really know...” Harry admitted and looked at Blaise.

“I was thinking in a couple days we could go. I wanted to show Harry around and we have some things that we need to work on before we go into town,” Blaise informed his mother, who nodded again.

“Then that is settled. Mr. Potter, if my son is not keeping you to busy tomorrow, I would like you to join me for tea,” Elladora said. Harry frowned but nodded his head.

“I think that should be okay.” Harry glanced again at Blaise, who smiled at him.

“Thank you again, for letting my mother stay here,” Draco said looking at Elladora, as he picked up on Harry's unease with the conversation.

“It is no problem, Draco, you and your mother are always welcome here; you know that,” Elladora said with a smile. It was then that dinner appeared on the table and most conversation turned to either school work, and at one point Elladora was telling Blaise about a new man that she had recently met, and that she was hoping Blaise would be able to meet him sometime in the coming week. Something that Blaise reluctantly agreed to.

“Keep in mind that I do have plans with both Harry and Draco this week as well, and I was hoping to use the training room with Harry tomorrow,” Blaise said and Elladora just nodded.

“You know that room is always open when you need it,” Elladora said, smiling.

\-----------x

Harry growled in frustration as the dummy went flying back once again; Blaise had left him alone nearly half an hour ago to practice and hadn't returned yet. Harry felt as if he was getting a little better with his magic, and at least he wasn't afraid to use it when Blaise wasn't around anymore. However, he was still holding back; without Blaise there he could still feel the slight burning under his skin and all Harry could think was that there was still something he was afraid of.

“Why can't I GET this!” Harry yelled, his magic bursting out in a sudden wave, one that Harry let happen and didn't try to pull it back in. The burning was there but nowhere nearly as painful as it could have been. The magic died down and Harry sighed as he sat down on the floor, staring at the wall that he had thrown the dummy against.

“You really are having a hard time controlling that, aren't you?” A voice behind him had Harry turning around quickly to see Elladora standing in the doorway.

“How long have you been standing there?” Harry asked, not meaning to sound rude, but the Italian woman didn't seem to mind his tone of voice all that much as she came further into the room.

“Long enough to see how strong your magic is, and also to see how much you are still holding back,” she said, watching as Harry pulled himself up off the floor. “Blaise did tell me that you were having a lot of trouble with your magic,”

“What else did he tell you?” Harry frowned, not really liking the thought that Blaise had been talking about him to his mother.

“Nothing that I hadn't figured out for myself,” Elladora informed him, looking over at the dummy still on the floor. “There are many different ways of controlling magic, Blaise is taking the right approach with you I believe, but he is worried that there is still something missing, some reason as to why you are unable to let your magic flow freely as it was meant to.” Elladora looked back down at Harry, who was still frowning at her and she smiled. “Can you think of any reason why you would are stopping your own magic?” She questioned.

“No, I've been trying to think of what could be stopping it, but nothing is coming to mind,” Harry said in annoyance.

“Sometimes it can be the smallest detail. When Blaise was younger he used to have trouble with his own magic as well, he hated using his magic for anything, which of course made his accidental magic that much worse,” Elladora explained and Harry was surprised to be hearing this. He would have thought that Blaise would have told him that he used to have similar problems..

“Why did he have trouble with his magic?” Harry asked and Elladora sighed softly.

“A lot of it I believe had to do with his father. Blaise was always scolded when he did accidental magic, as it was a sign of weakness that he couldn't control his magic,” Elladora explained

Harry's face went a shade paler as his mind jumped right to the multiple times he had been punished, locked in his cupboard without food every time he had done accidental magic, even if he hadn't known what it was at the time. 'Freak.' The word echoed through his mind and Harry shivered.

“Harry?” The worried voice of Elladora didn't fully register in Harry's mind, but the hand on his shoulder had Harry reacting before he realised fully what was happening. His magic burst out from him so suddenly that it pushed both him and Elladora back a few feet from each other.

“I'm sorry!” Harry said quickly trying to pull his magic back. “I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!”

Elladora could see immediately what was happening and moved forward quickly. “Harry, stop holding back,” she ordered. “That is why it hurts, you must not hold your magic back,” Elladora's voice was stern as she watched Harry struggling with his magic, and she could see now why Blaise had asked for help with Harry. “Why are you holding it back?” she questioned.

“I don't know...” Harry said, wrapping his arms around himself as he felt the burning under his skin growing more intense.

“There must be a reason for it, why are you holding it back right now?” Elladora was determined to get the answer out of the shivering boy.

“Because you'll get hurt if I let it out now! It's... it's too much, I need Blaise!” Harry couldn't seem to move from where he was as he sank to his knees. “Please, I need Blaise, where is he?” Harry asked looking up at Elladora.

“I will let him in, in a moment. Harry, your magic isn't going to hurt me, if you concentrate on that when you let it go, it will listen to you. You are only hurting yourself by holding it in.” Elladora knelt down on the floor in front of Harry, trying to keep the fifteen year old's attention on her.

“Something bad will happen if I let it go, please... I just want Blaise,” Harry said, closing his eyes tightly.

“Look at me, Harry,” Elladora said. Green eyes opened and Harry slowly looked back up at her. “Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise,” she said as she lifted her hand to cup Harry's cheek. Harry stubbornly shook his head, pushing Elladora away; curling up on himself even more, his breathing becoming more labored as he held tighter onto his magic. The Italian woman sighed, knowing she wouldn't get any further with Harry at the moment, so she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the door. She had only been expecting to see Blaise push his way through the door, and was a little surprised to see Draco with him as well.

“What did you do?” Draco hissed at Elladora as she stood up.

“See to Harry first, then we will talk,” she said, leaving the three boys alone and, leaving the room, closing the door behind her. There was obviously far more going on that her son was telling her, or maybe it was that Blaise didn't know anything either. What Elladora did know was that Harry would never be able to control his magic until he overcame his fear of it, or perhaps it was more fear of what his magic could do than fear of magic itself.

\----------------x

Harry was sitting sideways, practically in Blaise's lap as he relaxed against the tan boy's chest, his magic finally calm but his mind was still running in circles. Harry felt like he might know why he was so scared of his magic but he didn't want to admit that the Dursleys had affected him so deeply, didn't want to admit that maybe they really could have 'beat the magic out of him'.

“I take it my mother wasn't much help with your magic issue?” Blaise asked and Harry sighed.

“I think she was more help than she meant to be,” Harry admitted softly.

“What do you mean, Harry?” Draco questioned, running his fingers soothingly through Harry's hair. Harry was still worked up about something but Draco couldn't quite figure out what it was.

“She told me that Blaise used to have trouble with his magic, when he was younger,” Harry said tilting his head up so he could look at the Italian boy, who nodded his head in confirmation.

“Yes, I used to have a bit of trouble, it's how I know what will help control your own magic, and fighting against is most definitely not the way to go about it,” Blaise said.

“You could have told me that yourself, that you also had trouble with your magic,” Harry said, a little annoyed that Blaise hadn't told him.

“Does it really matter if I told you or not?” Blaise questioned and Harry shrugged his shoulder.

“No, I guess not, but it would have made me feel like less of a freak,” Harry admitted, closing his eyes as he rested his head back against Blaise's chest enjoying the feeling of Draco's fingers still running through his hair.

“You're not a freak, Harry,” Draco said.

“Knowing something and believing something are two very different things,” Harry said, keeping his eyes closed and so missing the looks that Blaise and Draco exchanged with each other.

“Care to elaborate on that?” Blaise said and Harry sighed again pulling away from Blaise so he could look at the tan boy better before turning his attention towards Draco when the blond boy pulled his hand away from Harry.

“It's my relatives,” Harry said, pushing himself to his feet; he couldn't talk about this while sitting so close to his two boyfriends. “You both know I was abused... that much you've worked out on your own from what I've been able to make myself tell either of you, you know my family never loved me, but... it was worse than that,” Harry said, not looking at either of the other two as he pulled his shirt off slowly to show the old scars that were all over his back.

Both Blaise and Draco had seen them only once before; Blaise had walked in on Harry when changing, and Draco had seen them during Christmas when Harry had been running a fever. But the fact that Harry was willingly showing them the physical scars that his abuse had left, it showed how far the three of them had come in their bond.

“A lot of the scars were because of my cousin and his gang, when they managed to catch me they liked to beat me up quite a lot,” Harry said, his voice soft as he fidgeted with the shirt in his hands. “Some of the worse ones are when my Uncle was a bit too rough with his punishments... which usually came after I had done accidental magic,” Harry admitted.

“Every time you did magic?” Blaise asked, standing up as well.

“Just about,” Harry sighed. “Sometimes I was just locked in my cupboard without food for a few days to a week, depending on what I had done. The last time I was locked in there was when I accidentally set snake on my cousin and his friend at the zoo.” Harry almost smiled at the memory of that time; both boys had had it coming but that had been the longest he had ever been locked in his cupboard before. “To my family, I was a freak, the abnormal one. I was told more than once that there was no such thing as magic, I wasn't allowed to day dream, or have any normal childish fantasies. I'm sure now they thought I would start getting weird ideas and learn about my magic despite their efforts to beat it out of me,” Harry said turning to look at Blaise and Draco now.

Both of them were standing and staring at him. Blaise looked angry and Harry couldn't read Draco's expression but the connection he had with him spoke volumes, he was disgusted at what the muggles had done to Harry. “It's no wonder you're afraid of your magic,” Blaise finally said.

“I don't think it's so much I'm afraid of magic though... I think I'm more afraid of what will happen when I let it go; nothing good ever happened. No matter if I mostly did magic to save myself from more harm, I was always punished one way or another.”

“So it was literally beaten into you that magic was something bad and horrible, something that was to be feared at all cost.” Draco sighed. “Well, that is something we can work with now I think,” the blond boy said and Harry blinked at him.

“Baby steps, we can't force you to just let your magic go, we'll work on it a little bit at a time,” Blaise said and Harry smiled at the both of them. Neither of them were looking at him differently, neither of them were disgusted that he hadn't been able to protect himself from a few stupid muggles. As he pulled his shirt back on Harry couldn't help but think that maybe things were going to be alright after all, and he could believe now that Blaise and Draco were not going to let him go back to the Dursleys.

“It's still early enough in the day, if you want to go change, Harry, we could go into town today if you wanted? Take a break from your magic training for a little while?” Blaise suggested and Harry smiled widely at him and nodded.

“Alright!” he said and Draco laughed at the eagerness in Harry's voice.

“If your clothes are as bad as Blaise says they are, then perhaps I should come with you to pick out something for you,” Draco said.

“If I say no you're just going to follow me anyway,” Harry said as he shrugged.

“I will go and inform my mother that we are going out, and we can talk with her later,” Blaise said as the three of them left the room. Draco led Harry upstairs while Blaise went to talk with Elladora.

Harry hurried ahead of Draco taking two steps at a time while the blond boy chose to walk at a much more reasonable pace. “Blaise isn't going to change his mind about taking us into town,” Draco called after Harry as the dark haired boy hurried into his room, pulling the trunk open and starting to pull things out to try and find something that would be suitable to wear.

Pulling off his shirt and tossing it aside, Harry pulled out a shirt that seemed to be in decent shape but a small box fell out of the folds landing on the floor in front of Harry. Curious Harry leaned down and picked up the small ring box looking it over. He was sure he had never seen the box before; opening it, he saw a very ornate ring.

“Harry, why don't we just get you some of my clothes to wear,” Draco said as he came into the room stopping short when he saw Harry standing there holding a very familiar box. “Harry!” Draco shouted and the small boy dropped the box, but seeker reflexes had his hand shooting out to catch it before it hit the floor, his whole hand wrapping around the open box. The last thing Harry heard before feeling the familiar and terrifying feeling of a hook just behind his navel, was Draco's horrified and panicked scream just before Harry vanished.

Harry couldn't breathe, his hand held tightly onto the box even as he landed hard on a wooden floor. His eyes closed tightly as he didn't want to look up to see where he was. His heart was hammering in his chest as he listened to the near quiet room around him; he could hear the cracking of a fire and the sound of someone's shocked intake of breath before a soft chuckle reached his ears.

“Hello, Harry,” Voldemort greeted.

TBC

So I know I have had a few bad cliff hangers during this whole fanfic, none of them were on purpose, this one however, I have been planning for this one since chapter 10 when Voldemort first gave Draco the ring!


	27. Chapter 27

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 27

Harry stared at Voldemort with wide eyes, his hand holding tightly onto the ring that had been the portkey to bring him here. Silently he was hoping that it would activate and take him back to Draco.

"It is rude not to greet your host. Perhaps we should do something about your manners," Voldemort hissed, pulling his wand out. The small boy was in his feet then, ready to dodge whatever was thrown at him, but no curse or hex came. Voldemort just sat there holding his wand as he watched the small boy.

"I suppose your lack of manners can be excused for the simple fact that you were raised by muggles," Voldemort sneered, twirling his wand between his fingers. "Nothing to say?" Voldemort asked, raising an eyebrow at Harry, who just continued to glare at him. "Perhaps you would like to know where that port-key came from then?" Voldemort questioned. Harry glanced down at his own hand that was still holding the ring tightly. "Why don't you have a closer look at it?" Voldemort suggested.

"Fuck you!" Harry snapped.

Voldemort narrowed red eyes at Harry, flicking his wand the dark wizard watching as Harry's eyes widened, the boy's hand flying to his mouth and Voldemort smirked. “That child was a tongue-tying curse; if you are not going to speak in a civil tone, it would be best if you did not speak at all,” Voldemort said and he stood up from the chair that he had been sitting in.

Harry backed away, his eyes darting around the room quickly looking for an escape, or somewhere he could hide. He had never felt this helpless before. Facing off against Voldemort in the past, Harry had always had some kind of advantage, something that had always worked in his favor, but there was nothing now. The only furniture in this room was the high-back chair that Voldemort had been occupying; there was a rug laid on the floor a few feet away from the fireplace, but nothing else. The windows were closed, as was the door. Harry was trapped, half naked and wandless. But the small boy refused to show how scared he truly was.

“The ring you are currently holding,” Voldemort said not seeming to care that his small enemy was backing away from him, “it is an heirloom of the Malfoy family.” Voldemort had the satisfaction of seeing the disbelief flash through those green eyes, before Harry's attention flickered down to his hand for a moment. But the boy still didn't look at the ring he was holding.

“Portkeys are simple to make, though they are harder to control,” Voldemort said, turning away from Harry and going to walk towards the window. “Bringing you to me by portkey had worked well enough in the past, but how to get you to touch another portkey? That was the tricky part.” Voldemort glanced over towards Harry, smirking when he saw that the boy had backed up and was now trying to get the door open. “Keying the portkey to activate when only you touched it; it is amazing what kind of magic you can do when you have the blood of your victim.” Voldemort turned to look at Harry fully now. “I am eager to see what else I will be able to do. I will, of course, need more of your blood.” Voldemort moved quickly, pointing his wand at Harry, giving the teen very little time to react as the first spell was fired; however, Harry hadn't let his guard down and managed to move before the spell could hit him.

“It would be much easier if you just gave up now; the door is locked, as are the windows. You will not escape me this time, Harry,” Voldemort chuckled.

“I am in your mind, Harry, I know what it is you fear the most,” that all too familiar voice whispered in the back of Harry's mind.

“NO!” Harry covered his ears, but he could feel that slight burning just under his skin, an indication that his magic was building up, and this time Harry let it. He didn't have his wand but Harry thought that maybe if he could trigger a magical outburst somehow, it might be his only chance at escaping. He just had to stay alive long enough for that to happen.

Voldemort fired one spell after another at Harry as the boy darted around the room. He wasn't truly aiming to kill the boy, not yet, he had far better plans in mind. He continued with his little game for nearly ten minutes, letting Harry 'hide' behind the high-back chair to catch his breath. “I wonder what it would take for you to admit defeat.” Voldemort said.

“Nothing you could do,” Harry snarled, leaping back when the chair he was hiding behind caught on fire.

“We shall see about that. I have grown tired of our game, let's move onto the next round.” Voldemort smirked as he threw a spell at the burning chair that Harry was currently hiding behind, watching as the piece of furniture blew apart, leaving nothing but dust behind. The shock of the spell had sent Harry flying back, and before the boy could even get his feet under him again, Voldemort's smirk grew wider before he hissed out another spell. “Somnium.”

The spell struck Harry and green eyes widened as he crumbled back to the floor. He could hear Voldemort laughing but the sound was slowly fading and his vision seemed to be getting dimmer. For one terrifying moment, Harry thought that he was going deaf and blind. He cried out; he wouldn't be able to fight Voldemort like this, he wanted Blaise and Draco. Though, at the same time, he hoped that his two bond-mates didn't come for him; if they died trying to save him, Harry wasn't sure he would be able to handle it. The world finally faded to dark and Harry felt himself falling, slipping further into the darkness.

There was no light or sound around him, and Harry felt as if he were floating. He didn't like the feeling at all and, trying to move around, he found that he was also unable to move. Harry wanted to scream, he felt that he might already be screaming.

Suddenly he was sitting upright, his head connecting with something solid, making him fall back on the floor. Blinking rapidly, Harry looked at the darkness around him, though there were small streams of light coming from somewhere. Sitting up a little more slowly, Harry put his hand out trying to find what he had hit his head on before; he found a low slanted ceiling. He tried to work out how long he had been asleep and where it was that Voldemort had locked him up.

There was suddenly a sharp knocking sound that had Harry jumping and looking over towards where the small bit of light was coming from. The sound of a lock being slid open had Harry's heart hammering in his chest as he now recognised where he was.

“Get up now, you lazy boy!” The voice of his aunt came through the now unlocked cupboard door. Harry slowly pushed the door open to see his aunt's scowling face. “Up, now!” she snapped and Harry crawled out of the cupboard before standing to his feet, only to receive a swift kick from his aunt, who clearly thought he wasn't moving fast enough. But Harry was beyond confused; he had no idea how he had gotten back to the Dursleys', nor why he was locked up in the too small cupboard again.

“Your uncle will be down shortly, you had better have breakfast ready and on the table!” Petunia ordered.

"I don't understand," Harry said, still giving his aunt a confused look. Petunia narrowed her eyes at Harry reaching out and grabbing a fist full of his hair, her long nails scratching his scalp painfully.

"Get in the kitchen and make breakfast, and maybe I will stop Vernon the next time he takes the cane to your backside." Shoving Harry towards the kitchen, she watched as the small fifteen year old stumbled.

Harry looked at his aunt before hurrying into the kitchen; as confused as he was, he didn't want to push his luck and risk giving her the chance to start kicking him again. He had no clue how he had gotten there though; he had just been fighting Voldemort, if you could call running around a room trying to avoid getting hit fighting.

Entering the kitchen, Harry looked around. Everything was the same as it had always been, even his fat cousin was sitting in his usual spot at the kitchen table.

"You look stupider than usual," Dudley said.

Harry looked at his cousin, his confusion growing. "I don't understand how I got here," Harry said, knowing that Dudley was the least likely person to have the answer to this confusing situation.

"Stop talking stupid, I want breakfast," the over sized boy demanded.

"Then make it yourself," Harry said, heading straight for the back door and already forming a plan on how he would get back to his bond-mates. One thing he hadn't expected though was to be hit upside the head with a frying pan.

"Where do you think you're going, boy?" Petunia snapped as Harry staggered a little from the shock of the blow.

Harry blinked up at her, his head throbbing and his vision blurry. "I'm going back to Hogwarts! Where I belong!" Harry snapped back. "I don't know how I got here in the first place!"

The kitchen was silent for a long moment. Harry stood up straight again, putting a hand on his head where he could already feel a lump forming.

"Maybe you hit him too hard in the head, Mum," Dudley said.

"Make sure he doesn't leave," Petunia said to Dudley before she left the kitchen quickly.

Harry was ignoring them, turning once again to go out the back door, only to be grabbed from behind. Dudley had always been bigger and stronger, even when Harry kicked out and struggled to be let go he wasn't able to get away.,

"What is all this bloody ruckus?" Vernon demanded as he came storming into the kitchen.

"He's gone mental," Dudley answered.

"I have not! I'm going back to Hogwarts, you can't keep me here!" Harry shouted, struggling harder.

"I do not have time for this!" Vernon said in annoyance. "Put him back in his cupboard, Dudley, I will deal with him later," Vernon ordered.

Harry continued to struggle against his cousin, trying to get his magic to do something so he could get out of here and back to his bond-mates. But nothing was happening, there was no build up of magic, no burning under his skin, it was as if his magic just wasn't there at all. Harry had a fearful thought that Voldemort must have done something to his magic.

Dudley shoved Harry into the cupboard, giving a swift kick to the smaller boy, to make sure he stayed down, before slamming the door shut and locking it.

Harry stared with wide eyes as he was locked in the small space once again; it was far smaller than he remembered it being and he didn't like it. Shifting around as best he could, Harry coughed as he disturbed some of the dust in the enclosed space. Using as much strength as he could he started kicking at the door. “Let me out!” he yelled, determined not to be ignored by the Dursleys, to not be locked away and forgotten again.

Something hissed in the darkness beside him and Harry froze. Turning slowly, green eyes widened when he saw the familiar form of Voldemort's snake. Harry was unsure of how it had even gotten in there with him, or how there was room for both the snake and himself.

“Kill,” the snake hissed and Harry swallowed hard, shifting away from the snake as best he could in the tiny space but never looking away as he slowly reached for the door, hoping that maybe he could get it open somehow. He had just barely touched the door when the snake lunged at him and Harry jumped, trying to get to his feet and dodge; all he managed to do, however, was hit his head painfully on the ceiling and smash his elbow into the few boards on the wall that counted for shelving.

There was no room to move and Nagini wrapped herself tightly around him, squeezing the air from Harry's lungs making it impossible for him to scream. Nagini squeezed him tighter and Harry felt light headed, struggling to keep his eyes open as he watched Nagini's head move, looking for the perfect position to strike.

And then she did, her fangs biting into his neck before drawing back and lunging again, her fangs sinking painfully into his shoulder and Harry could feel the burning of her venom. Harry's struggles slowly stopped and he went completely limp, the door to his cupboard opened and Nagini let him go, dropping the-boy-who-lived to the floor as she lunged at her next prey. Harry lay on the floor, blood pooling around him from the open wound, as he listened to the sounds of the Dursleys screaming as Nagini killed them.

\-------------x

Draco stared at the spot where Harry had been, his eyes wide as he tried to process what had just happened. The blond boy felt like someone had cast a body bind on him; he had to move, he had to tell Blaise what had happened, Draco knew all this but he still couldn't make himself move from the spot by the door. Harry was with Voldemort and there wasn't anything that they could do about it at the moment.

“Are you two ready to go?” Blaise asked as he came up the hallway and stopped at Harry's door, looking at Draco's back. “Where's Harry?” That one simple question is what got Draco to move, he turned to look at Blaise his face pale as he now thought about how he was going to explain what happened to Blaise, explain to him why there had been a portkey here in the first place.

“Malfoy Manor,” Draco answered.

“What?” Blaise asked. Even though he had heard Draco clearly, his brain couldn't process what the blond boy had just said.

“Harry was just taken to Malfoy Manor,” Draco said again as he tried to stamp down on his own panic about what was going to happen now.

“Taken? Who took him? Draco, what's going on? How do you know where he is?” Blaise demanded.

“It was a portkey, and it doesn't matter how I know,” Draco said, really not wanting to go into detail about the portkey but also knowing that he wouldn't be able to avoid it. “Right now we have to go there, we have to go get Harry before something happens!” Draco said firmly, moving to walk past Blaise quickly. Harry had only just vanished and if they acted quickly then maybe it wouldn't be too late.

Blaise grabbed Draco by the arm, stopping the blond boy from going too far. “Draco, what is going on? How do you know it was a portkey? And why are you so sure that he is at Malfoy Manor?” Blaise asked, frowning when the blond boy didn't look at him. “You know where it came from don't you?”

“Yes, I know!” Draco snapped, not looking at Blaise. “This is my fault... we have to hurry before it's too late!” Draco said, trembling; he was feeling an overwhelming sense of fear and he wasn't sure if it was his own or if he was picking up on Harry's emotions.

“What do you mean it's your fault, Draco?” Blaise asked. When Draco didn't answer Blaise turned him around so that the blond boy was now facing him. “Why was there a portkey here?” Blaise asked, doing his best to keep his own fear and anger in check.

“He gave me the portkey, during Christmas, I thought I still had it. I thought I put it away!” Draco said but thinking about it now he couldn't really remember what had happened to the ring. He knew that Voldemort had given it to him and that he had returned to Hogwarts that same day; he had also opened the bond with Harry that day.

“He, who?" Blaise demanded to know. "Your father?" he asked, but Draco shook his head and the stricken expression on the blond's face told him everything. "The Dark Lord. The Dark Lord gave you a portkey? Why?” Blaise asked and Draco shook his head again.

“Damn it, Blaise! This isn't the time to interrogate me!” Draco shouted, pulling away from the tan boy. “I can stand here telling you every single detail about that damn ring, or we can go and inform our mothers about what has happened, and contact my godfather!”

Blaise narrowed his eyes at Draco but nodded. “We'll talk about this later,” he agreed, not willing to really let the topic go but knowing that they had a more pressing matter to deal with. The two boys quickly left the room and hurried downstairs; Blaise went to once again talk to his mother and Narcissa while Draco went to contact Snape and inform the Potions Master about what had just transpired.

\------------x

Harry's eyes snapped open suddenly, his head shooting up in surprise at the fact that he wasn't only awake, but alive. His head cracked on the stone wall causing the small boy to groan in pain; someone off to the side snickered and Harry blinked, looking in the direction of the noise to see Wormtail standing just outside the bars of the cell that Harry now found himself in.

 

"What..." Harry looked around in confusion.

"Y-you're a-aw-wake?" Wormtail stuttered, his eyes wide for a moment before he turned away from the bars, quickly walking away before Harry could say or do anything.

Harry moved quickly to stand up, only to find out that he was being held to the floor by a set of thick chains. Footsteps echoed from down the hall in the direction that Wormtail had scurried off in. A moment later Harry was looking at the stern face of Lucius Malfoy.

“Good evening, Mr. Potter,” Lucius said in that superior pompous tone showing this man clearly thought himself above whoever he was talking to. Harry didn't say anything and just continued glaring at the man. “I have taken time out of my busy schedule to come down here to see you, the least you could do, Mr. Potter, is engage in conversation,” Lucius said.

“Fuck you; is that engaging enough for you?” Harry snapped.

Lucius narrowed his eyes at the boy. “If my purpose down here was anything other than to make you talk, I would continue with my lord's lesson on how you should speak to your betters,” Lucius said, seeming unfazed by Harry's crass words.

“Why the bloody hell would I want to talk to you?” Harry huffed. “I have nothing to say to you!”

Lucius pulled out his wand, moving it in a quick complex motion. “Sancti Dolor.” Lucius almost sounded bored as he said the spell, the blond man watching as Harry pulled at his bindings in a futile attempt to dodge the spell.

Harry flinched, closing his eyes tightly when the spell hit him. He waited for something, anything, to happen. Moments passed and there was still nothing. Harry frowned, opening his eyes to look at Lucius, who was still watching him with the same bored expression. “What did you just do?” Harry asked.

“I'm sure you will figure it out in time, Mr. Potter,” Lucius said watching Harry closely. “Where is my wife?” Lucius asked and Harry was surprised by the question.

“What?” Harry asked, and he frowned when he felt something pinch his chest. Glancing down, he didn't see anything, but shifted around slightly before he looked back up at the blond man. “Why would I know where your wife is?” Harry asked back, shifting when he felt that same pinch again.

“Perhaps an easier question; what kind of bond do you have with my son?” Lucius asked and Harry narrowed his eyes.

“I'm not telling you anything,” Harry growled, wincing when it suddenly felt like someone had punched him in the gut and all the air was knocked out of him. “...what...” Harry gasped, trying to breath properly again.

“I suggest you answer one of my questions, Mr. Potter,” Lucius said with a satisfied smirk.

Harry glared up at him. “I'm not answering any of your stupid fucking questions!” he shouted, gasping when the pain in his stomach became worse.

Lucius stood there calmly, watching as Harry doubled over in pain. He waited until the boy seemed to have his breathing under control again. “I suggest that if you wish to avoid feeling any more pain, you answer my questions,” Lucius said.

Harry didn't say anything this time; deciding that whatever spell Lucius had hit him with before was the cause of this pain, Harry figured he would probably be safe as long as he just didn't talk. A stabbing pain in his stomach had Harry crying out.

“Not speaking isn't an option, Mr. Potter, however, since you refuse to answer either of my other questions, let's try something even your simple brain should be able to provide an answer for. Have you figured out what the spell is?” Lucius asked.

Harry didn't want to answer, he didn't want to give this man the satisfaction of getting any kind of answer from him, however, Harry wasn't very fond of what this spell seemed to be doing. “No,” he answered, hoping that would be enough; there was no stabbing pain in his gut again, but he felt that annoying pinch, this time by his neck. “I don't know what the spell is,” Harry growled.

“It appears they will allow anyone into Hogwarts, no matter how irredeemably obtuse they are,” Lucius sneered. “I suppose the blame should not rest entirely on you, being raised by muggles no doubt had some effect on your learning capacity.”

“Doesn't matter if I am 'irredeemably obtuse', I still out-witted you when I was only twelve. Dobby says hello by the way,” Harry said with a satisfied smirk when he saw Lucius' eye twitch, he had obviously hit a nerve with that comment.

“Enjoy your moment while it lasts, Potter,” Lucius hissed, clearly agitated now. “If you will not answer my questions, perhaps I can get Draco to answer a few. It may also be a good idea to keep in mind that the pain you are feeling is not your own,” Lucius said, turning to leave.

Harry's eyes widened as he caught on quickly to what Lucius was insinuating. But it couldn't be possible, Draco was still safe in Italy with Blaise. “You're lying!” Harry shouted after the older man, his voice echoing off the walls of his cell. There was no answer and Harry sat back against the wall. “He's lying,” he told himself but as he felt a stabbing pain in his leg, Harry wasn't so sure that the elder Malfoy was lying. After all, Harry had no idea how long he had been unconscious, Draco could have easily come here looking for him.

Harry sat quietly in the dungeon, every now and then a ghost pain would shoot through another part of his body. The pain wasn't really all that bad, Harry had had much worse before, but his main concern was for Draco; if this was really an echo of what Draco was feeling, Harry couldn't help but wonder what was being done to his blond boyfriend. Harry wished now that he had just answered Lucius' stupid questions, maybe then Draco wouldn't be in trouble.

\-------------x

Dumbledore sat in his office, a worried look on his face. Snape sat across from him silently, waiting for what his order was going to be. However, Dumbledore was unsure of what their next move should be, Voldemort currently had Harry, one wrong move and the boy would be killed. “There must be a safe way to get Harry out,” Dumbledore said, looking at Snape.

“There are plenty of ways to free the boy, all of which could possibly result in his death, along with multiple others,” Snape informed the Headmaster, who nodded slowly in understanding.

"We need more information about what Voldemort plans on doing," Dumbledore said seriously.

Snape nodded once. "I will do my best to find out what I can, though I believe the Dark Lord is still suspicious of my loyalty, so it may take time," Snape said. He wasn't happy about the situation but there was little that could be done at the moment, there was no safe way to get Harry free of Voldemort, and Snape hated it even more that all they could do was rely on the boy's dumb luck.

“Please do what you can, Severus,” Dumbledore said. “Perhaps if you leave now-” the Headmaster said but Snape shook his head.

“It would not be good if I suddenly showed up demanding to know if Potter was there. I will have to wait until the Dark Lord summons me,” Snape said, not liking the fact that he had so few options. “He has had Potter for less than a day at the moment, if I have not been summoned in two days, then I will go,” Snape said. “The Dark Lord will be in no hurry to kill Potter this time,” Snape said, knowing those words would not truly reassure the headmaster, but it did mean that in two days time there was still a very good chance that Harry would still be alive.

Dumbledore nodded sadly. “That is all we can do for the moment then,” the Headmaster said. “I must go and inform the rest of the Order about what has happened.” Dumbledore stood.

“It may be best to make sure that the mutt does not hear of this just yet,” Snape said. “He may decide to do something foolish,”

“That I can agree with, but Sirius will know that there isn't anything that we can do at the moment. We do not have enough forces to attack a place so heavily warded as Malfoy Manor, and if we make a move now, they could kill Harry, or move him to a more secure place,” Dumbledore said.

“Which is why I suggest holding off on telling Potter's dog anything, or at least do not tell them of the boy's location,” Snape said and Dumbledore had to nod his agreement to that.

“If you are summoned, do not waste any time informing me, just go and see what you can find out,” Dumbledore ordered and Snape nodded, standing from his chair and leaving the room quickly. He had to contact Draco and inform his godson about what the current plan was. He already knew that the blond boy was not going to be happy that the plan was to simply sit and wait to see what happened next.

\------------x

Draco was pacing in tight circles around the sitting room, he had contacted his Godfather and told him about what had happened, or at least had given Snape the quick version of it, and now the only thing that Draco could do was wait. The door to the sitting room opened and Blaise walked in, Draco paused in his pacing to look at Blaise frowning; he could tell that his tan boyfriend was not happy and honestly Draco didn't blame him.

Blaise closed the door behind him, not taking his eyes off Draco. "What did your Godfather have to say?" Blaise asked.

"That he would do what he could," Draco said, leaving out the fact that the Potions Master had also given him a short lecture about the fact that he told no one about the portkey. "He's supposed to let me know what's going to be done." Draco sighed, running a hand through his hair, not caring that he had just messed it up.

Blaise nodded his head once, still staring at Draco as the blond boy resumed his pacing. "Draco," Blaise said when he was sure that Draco wasn't going to continue talking. Draco stopped his pacing once again, keeping his back towards the Italian.

“Do we have to talk about this now, Blaise?” Draco asked.

“Why did the Dark Lord give you a portkey to Malfoy Manor?” Blaise questioned, ignoring the fact that Draco obviously didn't want to talk about this right now; he honestly didn't care very much about what Draco wanted at the moment.

Draco's shoulders slumped slightly and he turned to look at the tan boy. “Because he wanted me to give it to Harry,” Draco explained. “I think it was some kind of test, to see if I was Death Eater material,” Draco said, keeping his grey eyes locked on Blaise's violet ones.

“Well I suppose you've now succeeded in this special mission of yours, guess you can continue following after your father after all,” Blaise growled and Draco was more than a little shocked and hurt hearing those words come from Blaise.

“I never meant for Harry to find that portkey!” Draco said quickly.

“Then how did he get it?” Blaise asked, still giving Draco an accusing look.

“I don't know! Honestly, Blaise, I don't! I had no intention of ever giving him that bloody ring,” Draco said in defence of himself.

“Then why did you keep it? Why was it still around if you never intended for Harry to find it?” Blaise raised an eyebrow at Draco.

“It was a Malfoy family heirloom, it's been passed down through the family for Merlin knows how long, I couldn't just throw something like that away. I had planned to hide it somewhere, and see about deactivating the portkey later, that just... I never got around to it...” Draco said trailing off, not really wanting to admit to the fact that he had actually forgotten all about the ring until he had seen Harry holding it.

“Alright, that much I can understand. What I don't understand however, is why you didn't tell me, Draco. I can understand that you have your reasons for keeping some things secret, but this? Did it ever cross your mind that I would have wanted to know that you had spoken to the Dark Lord? That he had given you a portkey meant for Harry?” Blaise wanted to understand but he was having a hard time keeping control of his anger towards Draco.

“I...” Draco shook his head, turning away from Blaise again, unable to continue looking at the tan boy.

“You what, Draco?” Blaise demanded.

“I forgot okay!” Draco snapped, still not turning around to look at his boyfriend. “Is that what you want to hear? I forgot about the bloody portkey! And even if I had remembered, I had no reason to think that Harry of all people had it!” Draco clenched his fists chancing a look at Blaise.

“Forgot,” Blaise said in utter disbelief. “The Dark Lord gives you a portkey and instructs you to give it to someone, not just anyone but the person you are BONDED to, and you just FORGOT?” Blaise was no longer able to keep himself calm. “That is not something you just forget about, Draco!”

“I'm sorry, I never meant for any of this to happen!” Draco tried to defend himself once again but Blaise shook his head.

“Don't,” the tan boy said shortly shaking his head. “Just... just don't,” Blaise couldn't think of anything else that he could say to the blond boy, he did know that he couldn't be in the same room with him at the moment though, so he turned and left. 

Draco didn't try and go after him, he knew that Blaise was angry, and really he had every right to be. Draco was angry at himself, and nothing was going to be okay until Harry was brought back safely. Slowly he turned to look at the fireplace, silently hoping that Snape would hurry up and contact him, hopefully with some good news.

\-----------x

Voldemort sat at the head of the table looking over the faces of his most loyal followers. By now each of them had been informed of Harry Potter's capture, and he had given them all permission to do what they pleased with the boy, so long as he was left alive.

“I do not understand, My Lord,” one of the masked wizards asked and Voldemort narrowed red eyes at the man. “Why do you not kill the boy now before he manages to escape again?”

“Do you think your Lord so incompetent that I would allow such a thing to happen again?” Voldemort hissed and had the satisfaction of watching as the Death Eater sank back in his chair. Voldemort waited for only a moment to see if this man would speak. “Nothing to say now, Avery?” Voldemort hissed.

“N-no, My Lord, forgive me for even suggesting that he may be able to escape again,” Avery said and in the next moment he had fallen out of his chair writhing on the floor in pain while most of the others seated at the table watched. They all clearly thought that Avery had been more than foolish to even suggest that Potter would escape again, or that it had somehow been Voldemort's fault that the boy had ever managed it before.

The spell was lifted and no one made any move to help Avery as he pulled himself from the floor and slid back into his seat.

“You are all tasked with making sure that Potter does not escape, and if he should somehow manage to get free, I will make sure each and every one of you is punished,” Voldemort said and a chill seemed to have run through the room as nearly everyone at the table shivered.

“I will personally make sure the boy does not get away,” Bellatrix offered.

“My Lord,” Lucius spoke up before Bellatrix could continue speaking. “There is some information I would like to get from the boy, before he is to damaged to speak properly,” Lucius requested, hoping to be allowed to continue his interrogation of the Potter boy before the more vicious among them got their hands on him. Voldemort studied the blond man for a moment.

“And what information could the child have that you need?” Voldemort questioned.

“I was hoping he may know the whereabouts of my wife,” Lucius said.

“Cissy has been corrupted, just as your son has! She has betrayed our Lord and fled!” Bellatrix hissed, narrowing her eyes at Lucius who gave her a cold look before turning his attention back to Voldemort who had yet to give him permission to actively try and get the information from the Potter boy.

“Very well, however, if you do manage to find her, bring her before me,” Voldemort ordered.

\------------x

Draco didn't know how much more he could take of this waiting game. It had been two days since he had heard anything from Snape, who had been waiting to be summoned by the Dark Lord, but there had been no news since then, so Draco didn't know if his Godfather had been summoned or not. It had been suggested that Blaise and Draco return to Hogwarts but the blond boy had refused, wanting to spend the time in a comfortable familiar place, not pacing around school waiting for the bad news.

“Draco, darling.” Narcissa's calm voice broke through her son's thoughts and Draco looked up at her. “Someone will contact us when they know something,” she said and Draco sighed and nodded.

“I know, but it doesn't stop me from worrying!” Draco did his best not to snap at his mother; it would not go over well if he started taking his anger out on other people, it would not make the situation better. Blaise already hadn't spoken a word to him after finding out about the portkey and the fact that Draco had kept it secret from not only him but Harry as well.

“The bond you have with Harry, is there something you could do for him that way?” Narcissa suggested as she came to sit next to her son.

“I have tried, but... it's painful; he's scared and confused half the time, other times he's in pain... but it's not as bad as I thought it might be,” Draco said, obviously confused about this. “I don't know if that means he has managed to block me or if he's not really being tortured...” Draco shuddered at the thought, hoping it was the latter.

Narcissa wrapped her arms around Draco, pulling him into what she hoped was a comforting hug, kissing the top of her son's head. “I think you should try and talk to Blaise, you are both bonded to Harry and he is just as worried about him as you are,” Narcissa said and Draco sighed shaking his head.

“Blaise doesn't want to talk to me... I really messed up, I thought it would be better if I didn't tell anyone about the portkey... and then I just kind of forgot about it. I never should have done that, to forget about something like that...” Draco shook his head.

“You were wrong, dragon, but sitting here worrying by yourself isn't helping anything. Go apologise properly to Blaise; Harry is going to need the two of you working together when he comes back,” Narcissa said and Draco sighed and nodded.

“I will try and talk to Blaise again,” Draco said, slowly pulling away from his mother and standing up. He was sure that things wouldn't go all that well if he tried talking to Blaise again but his mother was right, Harry was going to need them both when he was rescued. Narcissa watched her son go with a sad expression, she wanted to tell him what she was planning but he son was worried enough about Harry and would insist on going with her. She had already told Elladora her plan, and the Italian woman had agreed to keep the boys occupied.

Letting out a long sigh, Narcissa stood up and went to the main entrance, looking at the fireplace before taking a pinch of floo-powder and throwing it into the fire. Staring at the green flames for a moment before stepping in. “Malfoy Manor,” she said clearly, closing her eyes and making sure there was no emotion showing, knowing Lucius would be very displeased with her disappearance.

There was no one there to greet her when she stepped out of the floo, and Narcissa was glad for that, it meant that no one was expecting her. So she made her way straight to Lucius' study. The man was not in there, but Narcissa didn't think it would be a good idea to go searching for her husband throughout the whole house, so she took a seat next to the fireplace and waited.

\-------------x

Harry felt the now familiar pain in his stomach, like a knife being twisted. Lucius was once again standing in front of his cell, the man looking as proper as always. “Are you willing to answer my questions today, Mr. Potter?” Lucius asked and Harry sighed.

“Doesn't matter if I answer or not, you're still going to torture me!” Harry snapped.

“I have told you before, you are not the one who is suffering the most,” Lucius said, exasperated that he had to once again explain things to the captive boy.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you ask me stupid question, if I answer, you torture Draco, if I don't answer, you still torture Draco. You haven't even given me any proof that your son is here!” Harry hissed as another stabbing pain ripped through his stomach and chest.

“I thought the pain you were in would be proof enough,” Lucius said as he raised an eyebrow. “The only thing the spell I cast did was amplify your bond with my son. Though if it is proof that you want...” Lucius smirked and Harry didn't like that one bit.

Another set of footsteps were heard coming down towards his cell and Harry turned his head in the direction. A man that Harry had seen once before was dragging a bloody body behind him, dropping it right in front of Harry's cell with an evil smirk at the chained up boy. Harry didn't want to look at the body, afraid of what he would see, but a small pained moan from the person had Harry's eyes drifting down to stare at familiar grey ones.

Draco was covered from head to toe in blood, his once pristine clothing was now in tatters around the battered body, a large gash that started from Draco's navel that moved up to his neck was still bleeding indicating that the wound was most likely fresh.

“Thank you, Macnair, I will take care of this from here,” Lucius said and the man who had brought Draco down nodded once, giving one more evil grin in Harry's direction before he left the dungeon.

“Draco...?” Harry asked quietly but the grey eyes just continued staring at him as if they weren't quite seeing the person in front of them.

“My son has been as reluctant as you are about giving me the information that I want,” Lucius said and Harry snapped his attention back up to the blond man.

“How could you do something like that! To your own son!” Harry shouted, pulling on his restraints.

“He is the only thing in my life that I have ever truly regretted,” Lucius said easier than any father should be able to and that made Harry even angrier, pulling more furiously at his bindings.

“I'm going to kill you! When I get out of here I will kill you! And Voldemort! And I will burn this fucking house to the ground!” Harry shouted, his anger fueling his magic, but he still couldn't use it; there wasn't enough built up to break the wards that were around his cell, so even if he could get free of the chains, he would still be stuck.

“Lucy,” a sickly sweet voice said from down the hall and Lucius visibly cringed at the sound of Bellatrix's voice.

“I will cut that tongue out of your mouth if you ever dare to call me that again,” Lucius hissed, turning to see his psychotic sister-in-law.

“Our Lord wishes to have a word with you,” she said and Lucius sighed, glancing back at Harry, who once again was watching the body of Draco.

“Very well, do try not to have too much fun with the boy,” Lucius ordered and he left Bellatrix alone with Harry.

Bellatrix stepped up to the bars of the cell and looked at Harry, who was refusing to look at her. “You are right where you belong, wee-baby-Potter,” she said and Harry still refused to turn his gaze away from Draco, watching the slow rise and fall of the other boy's chest. Bellatrix looked down at the pitiful site of her nephew. “Are you worried about the traitor?” she questioned, pressing her boot down onto Draco's head satisfied by the frightened whimper it pulled from the boy.

“Don't touch him!” Harry glared at her and Bellatrix laughed.

“Don't touch him?” she questioned, “You mean like this?” She pressed the heel of her boot down harder on the boy's head. “Or perhaps you mean like this?” She pulled her wand out and pointed at Draco. “Crucio!” She laughed, her foot still pressing firmly on the boy's head as he writhed and screamed on the floor.

“STOP IT!” Harry's screams couldn't be heard over Draco's, even after the curse was lifted the blond boy continued sobbing in pain.

“Poor ickle-dragon,” Bellatrix said, pouting as she knelt down and lifted the blond boy up roughly making him cry out in pain again. Before Harry could do or say anything that might convince Bellatrix to stop, she had wrapped her arms around Draco's shaking shoulders, gripped his head and jerked it roughly. The audible snap of the bone breaking seemed to echo more off the walls of Harry's cell than the blond boy's screams had.

Bellatrix laughed as she looked at the devastated look on Harry's face, right before the cold anger overtook it. She pointed her wand at Harry and said the spell that Voldemort had instructed her to use. “Somnium,” she said, watching in satisfaction as Harry's eyes widened for a moment before they slid shut and he slumped back against the wall, in a spell induced dream for the next few hours.

\-----------------x

Gentle hands were rubbing at his forehead and Harry batted them away. “...no...” Harry mumbled, not wanting to be touched by anyone; the vivid image of Draco being dead on the floor in front of him was still haunting him.

“Shh, Harry it's alright,” the gentle and somewhat familiar voice said. “Mum's got you.”

Harry's eyes snapped open, green eyes locking with another set of equally green eyes as Lily smiled down at him. Harry screamed and sat up moving away from her quickly. “Harry, it's okay sweetie,” Lily said in such a calming voice that Harry almost wanted to listen to her, but she wasn't real, this couldn't be real.

“You... you're not here, you're dead, you're not real,” Harry said, shaking his head, but her hand on his forehead had felt real.

Lily gave Harry a very worried look, “I think I need to call the healer, your fever seems to be worse than I thought,” she said and moved to stand up. Harry stared as she went to the door. “James! Come here quickly!” Lily ordered and Harry continued staring as Lily came back to the bed that Harry was sitting on.

Thundering footsteps were heard in the hallway moments before the door burst open and James came hurrying into the room. “What is it?” James asked, pausing when he saw that Harry was awake and staring at him. “Oh, thank Merlin, he's awake,” James sighed in relief.

“He is awake, but I think his fever is worse,” Lily said and James' relief was replaced with worry once again.

“Worse?” James moved over to the bed and looked at Harry. “He's awake and he his face doesn't look so red any more, how can it be worse?” he questioned, looking at Lily again. Harry frowned looking between the two of them; real or not he didn't like them talking about him as if he weren't there at all.

“I don't have a fever!” Harry snapped. “Stop talking about me like I can't hear you or anything.”

James blinked at him for a moment before he laughed. “Seems perfectly fine to me,” James said with a shrug..

“I am fine... no, wait, I'm not fine.” Harry frowned shaking his head.

“Well, which one is it?” James asked.

“I feel fine, but I can't be fine because you're both here! How... you can't be here, you're both dead! This... this is another trick, Voldemort is doing something to my head and this is just another trick!” Harry covered his ears.

“Voldemort...” Lily said, letting out a long sigh. “That's what this is about?” She turned and hit James hard in the arm. “I TOLD you not to let him watch those movies while he was sick!” she scolded and James just laughed.

“Alright, you go and get his potions, and I'll calm him down a bit okay?” James said and Lily huffed before standing, giving Harry another concerned look before she left the room. James then turned his full attention towards Harry.

“Okay, now it's just us guys, what is really the matter?” James asked Harry, who stared at him. “You can't have really been that bothered by such a corny horror movie could you?”

“...Horror movie?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, the one about the snake man Voldemort, going around killing all the parents and kidnapping children to be in his zombie army of death eaters?” James said and Harry stared at him like he had gone completely insane.

"That..." Harry wasn't sure what to even say in response, it really did sound like something out of a bad horror movie.

"I know, one of Sirius' dumb finds," James said, grinning. "Honestly though, I wouldn't have let you watch it if I thought it would give you nightmares," James admitted, his smile falling from his face. "So what was your nightmare about?" James asked.

Harry shook his head. “It wasn't a nightmare, it was real, this is the dream,” Harry insisted.

"Why are you so sure that this is a dream?" James questioned.

"Because you're dead, mum is dead, you both died when I was a year old and... and I don't know anything about this place, I don't know where I am, but I remember everything else, I remember growing up without you," Harry said and James reached out putting a finger on Harry's lips to stop him from talking.

“That is side effects from the potions that you have been on,” James said. “The healer warned us about it.” James moved his hand to rest on Harry's shoulder smiling at his son. "Concentrate on me, do I feel like a dream to you?" James asked and Harry could only shake his head because he could feel the warmth coming from the hand holding his shoulder, could feel the weight of it.

"No...it feels real, but..."

"It was just a nightmare, Harry, whatever it was." James said, giving Harry's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“You said I was on potions...what kind of potions?” Harry asked and James sighed.

“You've never been all that healthy, Harry, the healers told us when you were born that there was a chance that you might not live longer than a week. But there was a specialist that figured out a way that we could tap into your magical core and use that to keep you alive, it's not perfect and well... you are more or less a squib because of it, but you're alive.” James said, looking seriously at Harry, who stared at him with wide eyes.

“So... I don't have any magic?” Harry wasn't sure what to feel about that, he remembered his last dream when he had been back with the Dursley's, and what it had felt like not to have magic then.

“No, you do have magic, Harry, you just can't use it like other wizards can because all your magic is being used to keep you alive,” James said and Harry looked down at his hands.

“What if I had to use my magic to defend myself?” Harry questioned softly and James sighed.

“Then you'll get sick again, that's what happened this time, you were being picked on by some local kids who dared you to fly, but even that was too much for you to handle and you fell from the broom. You've been in and out of consciousness for the past week with a very high fever. I know it's not fair that you can't use your magic properly but at the cost of your own life...” James shook his head taking a deep breath. “You're fifteen now and I think you are old enough to start making your own stupid choices, Merlin knows I made plenty of them at your age,” James said with a grin. “But please, if you want to do something like this again, just talk to me your mother about it first? We can start looking into other treatments for you, maybe start looking in the muggle world,” James offered and Harry could only nod his head slowly.

James let out a relieved sigh before reaching out and pulling Harry into a tight hug. “You and your mother are my whole world, I would do anything to keep you two safe,” James said and Harry couldn't help but hug him back.

“...I know...” Harry whispered back, despite knowing that this was a dream and it was eventually going to end, he figured that there was no harm in going along with it for now, because when he did wake up he was still going to be locked up, and Draco was still going to be dead. That thought alone had Harry holding tighter onto James.

 

TBC

I hope you all liked chapter 27! I have already started working on chapter 28!

And a bit of information on the spells that I have put in this chapter.   
1: Somnium, is a dreaming spell (though I would hope that it would have been rather obvious.) It puts the target in a deep dreaming sleep that can last anywhere from 6-24 hours. Depending on how much magic is put into the spell. The stronger the magic, the longer the spell lasts. 

2: Sancti Dolor, it is a two part spell. The first part is called Entitas Dolor is cast on one target while Sancti Dolor is cast on someone else. Anyone under the effects of Sancti Dolor will feel any pain from the first target. So in this chapter, Lucius cast Sancti Dolor on Harry, while he had cast Entitas Dolor on 'Draco' so that Harry could be tortured with the knowledge that the pain he is feeling wasn't his own. 

I just wanted to put that little bit in here in case anyone had any questions about the two spells. (I hope it's not confusing at all!)


	28. Chapter 28

ALMOST DONE!!!!

 

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 28

Elladora truly felt sorry for her son. It had been two days and there had been no word from Snape about what was being done regarding Harry's disappearance. Elladora knew it wasn't as simple as just walking in and bringing Harry home; if what Blaise said was true than Harry was currently with the Dark Lord and it was going to take longer than two days to get the boy back, hopefully alive.

Walking into the library, where Blaise had been spending most of his time the past couple days, Elladora saw her son in his favorite chair, a book in his hand and a stack of books next to him. The first time she had walked into the room to find Blaise reading, Elladora had been curious how Blaise could even focus on reading while Harry was missing. That was until she had looked closer at one of the books and found that it was about magical bonds, it was easy to figure out then that Blaise was trying to find a way to use the bond he had with Harry to try and save the boy.

Blaise looked up from the book he had been reading and Elladora couldn't help but sigh when she saw the dark circles under her child's eyes. “Not resting will do nothing to help Harry,” Elladora scolded, watching as Blaise put his book aside, rubbing a hand over his tired face.

“I can't sleep,” Blaise admitted. “I'm too worried about Harry.”

“I know you are.” Elladora moved forward, sitting in the other chair next to Blaise. “I am worried about him as well, he seems like a very sweet boy, but I also got to see a glimpse of how powerful he truly is. I believe that if the Dark Lord knew how much magic that boy has, he may have thought twice before kidnapping him,” Elladora said.

“I know you're trying to reassure me, mother, but it's not really helping,” Blaise huffed, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. “I appreciate it but I have far too much on my mind right now. Between being worried about Harry, and unbelievably mad at Draco...” Blaise said, clenching his fists as he felt the anger surge inside him again.

He had thought that some time away from Draco would help calm him down, help him realise that it was just a mistake, a huge one, yes, but it was still a mistake. However, that just seemed to make him even angrier because it wasn't the first mistake that Draco had made since the bond had first started, and each mistake seemed to have gone from bad to worse, all of them now seemed to have been leading to the moment where Harry vanished.

“I want to believe him, that he didn't mean it to happen,” Blaise said softly.

“I think that you should try and talk with Draco,” Elladora said, receiving a shocked look from her son. “You have avoided him for the past two days. At this point even if you two are just fighting, it will be better than you leaving the room every time he walks into it,” Elladora said and Blaise frowned more at her.

“I can't talk to him, not after what he did,” Blaise growled.

“It was a mistake, Blaise, one that he is already suffering for,” Elladora said.

“Good,” Blaise snapped, grabbing the book he had been reading before, opening it to a random page and holding it up so he wasn't looking at his mother anymore.

“I will let you get back to your reading then,” Elladora said, sounding very unhappy with him at the moment, but Blaise couldn't bring himself to care. “I think one thing you should try and remember though, you are not the only person in this house that is worried about Harry, and you are also not the only one who has a bond with him,” Elladora pointed out and she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Blaise didn't look at the door, he just stared at the book that he was holding, though he couldn't focus on the words at all anymore. He had been having a hard enough time before, now it was just impossible. “Damn it!” Blaise threw the book across the room running a hand through his hair.

\------------x

Sirius was beyond furious, two days his godson had been missing and they weren't any close to getting Harry back. He was tired of sitting around and waiting for Snape to do something, tired of listening to the other members of the Order talk and plan; Sirius was sure by now that their backup plans had backup plans of their own.

“You can never be too prepared,” Moody had said when this had been mentioned. Sirius, at any other time, would have agreed with that but not when Harry's life was the one on the line. While they sat there and planned for a rescue, Harry was with Voldemort being tortured, if he wasn't dead already. Sirius shook his head to rid himself of that thought; until he saw Harry's cold lifeless body for himself, he would continue to believe that his godson was alive.

“Sirius?” Remus was giving his friend a worried look and Sirius just sighed.

“I'm alright, Moony,” Sirius said before he got up from the table and left the kitchen, leaving everyone there to talk. He walked out into the hallway, letting out a long sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Is there any news on Harry?” Looking up at the sound of the voice, Sirius sighed again when he saw four of the Weasley children waiting on the second landing, pulling up an extendable ear before tucking it out of sight.

"No more than there was two days ago," Sirius said and watched as Fred and George exchanged a look while Ron just stood and silently went back upstairs. "They're coming up with a rescue plan to get him home," Sirius tried to reassure the other three.

"Yeah, sure," Fred said. "I'm going to go write Hermione and let her know nothing's changed," he told his twin before standing and heading up in the direction that Ron had gone.

"Harry's a fighter, he might be a bit banged up when we get him back, but we will get him back," Ginny said; her words were far more believable than Sirius' had been.

"Harry is a fighter," Sirius agreed, letting out a small sigh and running a hand through his hair again. He really wished that going out for a walk was an option, he hated being stuck in this house on a normal day but right now it was nearly unbearable.

The kitchen door opened and Remus came out, looking at Sirius. "Dumbledore just arrived, Snape's been summoned to a meeting," Remus said and Sirius gave one last glance up the stairs towards where George and Ginny were still seated before he followed Remus back into the kitchen.

\--------------x

Harry had stopped arguing with his parents about whether this was a dream or not, though he was still fairly sure that it was just a dream. There were things that just didn't make sense here, not just his parents being alive but the constant 'blackouts' he had been having, where whole days, even weeks, had gone by and he had no idea what had happened during that time. “Another side effect of your potions,” James had explained, the only time that Harry had asked about it.

Lily, however, had truly been worried and had fussed over Harry, scolding him for not informing them about his blackouts. Harry had decided then that he really didn't care that this was a dream, and he almost wished that it were possible to never wake up. Even if it meant never using his magic again, he thought that would be a very good sacrifice to make if it meant having his parents.

Harry should have known that good things never lasted however; even dreams had to end sometimes and, considering that this was a dream caused by a spell cast by Bellatrix, he really should have expected it to end badly. Though even if Harry had expected it, he never would have guessed that it would be as horrible as it turned out.

A car drive, a vacation to the beach; Harry was truly excited about it as he had never been to the beach before, he had never been anywhere much really, particularly while living with the Dursleys. Harry had been watching out the window when it happened; he felt the car jerk to the side, his father cursing loudly as the tires screeched before the whole car jerked again and it started rolling. Harry felt himself being thrown from his seat and out of the car, crying out as he hit the ground hard and rolled a few feet before he came to a stop. He felt as if the air had been knocked out of him, but still managed to force himself to sit up and look around, trying to figure out what happened.

A loud crash and Harry snapped his head in the direction of the sound; he could see the car he had been in, it had come to a stop at the bottom of the hill after hitting a large tree. Ignoring his own pain, Harry stumbled to his feet and made his way down the hill as quickly as he could.

“Mum! Dad!” Harry called out. He was nearly there when the whole car just seemed to be suddenly engulfed in flames, the force of the explosion sending Harry falling back onto the ground. He could hear his mother screaming, and there wasn't anything that he could do but sit and watch as the car burned.

Green eyes snapped open and, with a scream, Harry attempted to jump to his feet only to be stopped by the shackles still around his wrists. Slumping back down onto the cold stone floor Harry attempted to catch his breath, his heart still beating rapidly as the image of his parents' car burning was still far too vivid in his mind. He looked around the his cell for something to get his mind off the dream he had been trapped in, and his eyes settled on the body of Draco, which had been propped up against the bars of Harry's cell.

“Is ickle-Potter finally awake?” Bellatrix asked as she stepped out of the shadows she had been hiding in. “Did you have a pleasant dream?” she cackled. Harry looked up at her, narrowing his eyes, but said nothing. Bellatrix laughed happily. “This is why I love Gryffindors! So much fire, and well, you know what they say, it's best to fight fire with fire.” She had her wand pointed at Harry again. The small boy didn't even blink; this woman had killed Draco, had left the body against the bars so that Harry would be sure to see it after waking up from the most wonderful, and at the same time, most horrible dream.

“Ardens Sanguinis.” Bellatrix laughed more when the spell hit Harry square in the chest.

Harry winced, closing his eyes when he felt the spell hit him before heat started slowly spreading through his body starting from where the spell had struck. It only took a few moments before Harry no longer felt cold from the stone floor as heat spread through his whole body. It didn't feel so bad to Harry at first, as he had been more than a little cold being tied up there for who knew how long, however, once his whole body was warmed, it didn't stop getting hotter.

Harry tried to press himself back against the stones, looking for some relief from the heat that was burning him from the inside. It felt very similar to his magic when that felt like it was burning him just under the skin, however, this heat seemed to be deeper than that, and it never stopped getting hotter. Harry could hear Bellatrix laughing as he pulled on the restraints or tried to press closer to the stones that no longer felt cold, or at the very least were no longer offering him any relief from the burning in his body.

“Is it too hot for the baby-Potter?” Bellatrix let out her cackling laugh again but Harry ignored her, biting his lip hard. “There is one way to make the burning stop,” Bellatrix offered and Harry still didn't reply; he had been handling this feeling from his magic for months now, he could deal with this until the spell wore off.

\---------------x

Draco was having no success in talking with Blaise; after talking with his mother that morning and going to look for the tan boy, Draco hadn't been able to bring himself to approach him again. Blaise was still obviously angry with him, and rightfully so.

Draco had decided that it would be best if he came up with a good reason to talk to Blaise first before seeking the other boy out again. So he was currently sitting in his room, trying to think, when he felt something come through the bond from Harry's side; it was an almost overwhelming feeling of anger and he clutched the arm of the chair tightly. It wasn't the first time that Draco had felt something over the past two days, but it was the first time it had been this strong.

Draco thought that maybe that was a good thing, given that it meant that not only was their Harry definitely still alive but not broken either. It also occurred to Draco that he could maybe use it as an excuse to talk to Blaise, and that this is something that his boyfriend might actually want to hear enough to actually stop and listen, rather than walking away from him as he had been doing recently.

Standing, the blond boy hurried to his door, however, he only made it halfway across the room when something else echoed through the bond, also a lot stronger than it had been before. A slight burning, starting from his chest, was working its way through his whole body. Grey eyes widened as he recognised the spell almost immediately; it was something that had only been used on him once when he was younger, but the burning sensation running through his vanes wasn't something that you forgot all that easily.

"Blaise!" Draco screamed as he fell to his knees, not sure if his boyfriend would be close enough to hear him, but desperate to get help, not only for himself but for Harry as well. Draco wrapped his arms around himself; logically he knew that he could just close the bond and go find Blaise, tell the tan boy what was happening, demand that they go and rescue Harry now. However, Draco couldn't bring himself to block his small boyfriend out, Harry was in this much pain because of him, if he blocked him out now it would feel like he was giving up on Harry completely.

\--------------x

Narcissa waited as patiently as she could in her husband's study, and had been sitting in there for nearly three hours when he came in. He stopped just inside the doorway to stare in surprise at his wife; though he never let his Malfoy mask fall, the slight widening of his eyes was enough indication that he was truly surprised to see her.

“Hello, Lucius,” Narcissa greeted as she stood up. Lucius narrowed his eyes closing his study door behind him.

“You disappear for months, and the first thing you have to say to me is 'hello'?” Lucius asked.

“You knew where I was, and you knew why I left,” Narcissa pointed out.

“All I knew is that you went to visit 'a friend' because you couldn't stand the tension in the manor anymore,” Lucius said. “That does not mean that I knew exactly where you were.”

“That is all I am going to tell you,” Narcissa said, sure that Lucius had figured out quite enough on his own already, and was satisfied when Lucius let out an exasperated sigh.

“Very well, then why have you returned? Am I going to get cryptic answer to this question as well?” Lucius asked.

“I am here for Harry Potter,” Narcissa said and this time couldn't stop the small smile as Lucius' Malfoy mask fell for just a moment to reveal true surprise before it was hidden again.

“How do you know the boy is here?” Lucius narrowed his eyes.

“I know he is here, Lucius. How I know does not matter; why I am here for him is far more important, I think. If you care to know why then I suggest you make sure we cannot be disturbed and I will explain what I know,” Narcissa offered, watching as Lucius hesitated for just a split second before waving his wand at the door putting silencing and locking charms.

“Now we have privacy, explain yourself,” Lucius ordered.

“I am here for Harry because he has a signature bond with our son,” she said simply.

“Potter is bonded to both Draco and the Zabini heir,” Lucius replied. “Severus has already informed the Dark Lord of the bond, though he failed to mention what type of bond it was... How do you know this?” Lucius gave his wife an accusing look.

“Because I have spent the last two days with our son,” Narcissa answered. “That is also how I know that Harry is here, and I will not sit idly by while you cause our son any more pain than you already have.” Narcissa did not raise her voice but she was obviously very angry with Lucius.

“And you think that you can walk in here and just take the boy with you? If I don't stop you, there are plenty of others here that will,” Lucius said.

“I will not be leaving here until I have Harry. You can stop me if you wish; or you can face the facts. Our Lord is not the man he was before he was defeated the first time, and Potter's magic is far stronger than anyone ever anticipated; it was strong enough to activate a signature bond with not only Draco, but Blaise as well, and surely even you know what that means.” Narcissa looked at her husband.

“And if you are wrong about this, then we all die,” Lucius said.

“How long do you think we have before the Dark Lord kills us anyway?" Narcissa asked tersely. "I know you have always been disappointed in the way that Draco has turned out, but if you have ever had an ounce of love for your son, I am asking you, as your wife, please help me with this Lucius,” she requested; she would not beg, and she would not plead with Lucius to help her.

“I will not,” Lucius answered stiffly. “However, out of respect for our marriage, I will not stop you right now. I will be back in this study in one hour, if you are still here I am taking you to our Lord and you will be dealt with properly.” Lucius turned and left the office then, leaving Narcissa in there. She wasn't surprised or relieved by his answer in anyway, though it was still more than she had expected from him. It was clear she would have to just do this herself.

\---------------x

Snape knelt before Voldemort in the room that had been rearranged to look more like a throne room than the ballroom it had once been. Other Death Eaters were standing around in a semi-circle waiting and watching to see what Voldemort was going to do to the potions master, who was rumored to be the traitor in their ranks.

“I am still very displeased with you, Severus,” Voldemort hissed.

“I know I have failed you, My Lord,” Snape replied evenly.

“Do you now? How have you failed me?” Voldemort questioned, wanting to hear if Snape truly did know all the ways he had failed in his duties.

Not lifting his head at all, Snape voiced again everything he had 'failed' at over the past few months, from the potion, to not informing him about the bond between Harry, Draco and Blaise.

“Yes, those are very large failures Severus. Any other person would have been killed for such failures; give me one reason why I should keep you alive then?” Voldemort narrowed red eyes at the man knelt before him.

“I can think of none, My Lord,” Snape answered smoothly, though he was very confident that Voldemort wouldn't kill him or the man would have done so long before now.

“Come now, Severus, surely you do not wish for me to kill you,” Voldemort said and a few of the surrounding Death Eaters chuckled.

“I do not wish to die, My Lord. However, if you believe that I have done something worthy of death, nothing I say would change your mind,” Snape answered. “Though, if you insist that I give some form of answer, all I can say is that I have been a loyal follower all these years, I have failed you many times over, but I have also brought you success, and valuable information from inside the Order.”

“Indeed,” Voldemort said, looking thoughtful for a moment. “You say you are loyal to me, and yet, recently I have not seen that loyalty you speak of. Perhaps you have been hiding in Dumbledore's ranks for too long, perhaps you have grown fond of a few on their side. It has been known to happen before,” Voldemort said. “I seem to recall you once asking me to spare someone, the Potter boy's mother; I can not quite recall her name.” Voldemort smirked down at the man. “Do you happen to remember, Severus?”

“Lily, My Lord, the boy's mother's name was Lily,” Snape said.

“Yes, that was it. Tell me, have you developed a fondness for her son?” Voldemort questioned.

“The boy is arrogant, and far too full of himself. There are some who say he reminds them of his mother; I, however, see far more of his father in the whelp,” Snape answered and heard Voldemort chuckle.

“The boy is currently being held in the dungeon. Why don't you go down and visit him? Take out some of your anger at the boy's father on him,” Voldemort said, waving his hand. “You are dismissed,” he said. Snape bowed a little lower before standing and leaving the room under the watchful gaze of Voldemort.

\---------------x

Harry had no idea how long it had been; he still felt as if he was being burnt alive from the inside out, his skin felt raw and tender, he could even see red patches forming on his arms and chest as burns started to form on his chest. The cold stones had stopped giving him any kind of relief for this intense burning, and more than once his mind flashed back to the dream he had been trapped in before this and he couldn't help but wonder if this is what his mother had felt like when she had been trapped in the burning car.

“...just a dream...” Harry hissed quietly to himself.

“Bellatrix,” a voice snapped and Harry lifted his head slightly to see Lucius standing next to the crazy witch. “Do you not remember the order we were given, not to kill the boy?”

“I'm not killing him, just burning him slowly,” Bellatrix replied, not looking away from Harry.

“Which will eventually kill him,” Lucius reminded her, “Perhaps I should go inform our Lord of the spell you have decided appropriate for torture?” That was enough to get Bellatrix's attention off of Harry, as she turned to glare at Lucius.

“Our Lord trusts me more than he does you at the moment, Lucy.” Bellatrix smirked. “After all, it is your son and your wife who have gone missing, deserted our cause and betrayed the Dark Lord,” Bellatrix said; however, Lucius merely raised an eyebrow at her, seemingly unimpressed with her words.

“I believe the Dark Lord trusts my judgment far more than yours at the moment, Bellatrix, given my mind is far clearer than yours, since I did not spend fifteen years locked up with the Dementors. And though Narcissa is my wife, she is your sister, and your family history isn't perfect either; two traitor sisters,” Lucius pointed out and he didn't seem fazed at all when his sister-in-law's face twisted in anger and she pointed her wand at him.

“You dare imply that I would ever betray my Lord?” she shouted, her shrill voice echoing off the walls.

“Do not question my loyalty, and I shall not question yours,” Lucius said. “Now leave.” He watched as Bellatrix glared at him, giving one more look to Harry before leaving the dungeon, sending a blasting curse towards random objects as she went. Lucius then turned his full attention to Harry, who seemed to have completely ignored the whole exchange between them; the boy's eyes were closed and his skin seemed to have a red tint to it now. Lucius was sure now that Bellatrix would have let the spell continue until the boy was covered in blisters and burns.

“You are rather lucky, Mr. Potter, that I did not leave you alone with her for longer,” Lucius said. The only response he got was green eyes opening to look at him. “Bellatrix has always enjoyed the pain of others.”

“Fuck off,” Harry hissed, closing his eyes again.

“Frustum,” Lucius said as he waved his wand and Harry screamed as a deep cut appeared on his upper arm near his shoulder; it hurt far more than it normally would have, due to his burning skin. “That will help stop the burning spell,” Lucius said before he turned and left, leaving Harry alone as the boy slumped back against the stones.

The cut stung, and was still bleeding, but Harry was surprised and relieved to realise that the burning had stopped. Closing his eyes again, Harry relaxed as much as he could; this was the first time since arriving that he had been left alone and he was sure it wouldn't be for very long. He'd been placed under the sleeping spell twice now, which made it very difficult for him to keep track of how long it had actually been.

His eyes drifted to the body of Draco, that had once again been left; the memory of Bellatrix killing Draco, right before she had spelled Harry to sleep again, felt fresh in his mind and the pain of it made his heart and head ache painfully. He no longer felt as if his body were on fire and, though he was tired, sleep was the last thing on Harry's mind.

“Draco,” he whispered, knowing there wouldn't be any answer from the other boy. He could see cuts and bruises littering the blond boy's body, his sleek blond hair, always perfect, was dirty and matted with blood in places. He had been tortured and killed because Harry hadn't answered any of Lucius' questions.

Harry continued to stare at the body of Draco, unable to look away; it was his fault that Draco was here, his fault that the blond boy had been captured and tortured like this. Harry felt horrible about the fact that maybe he could have stopped it, could have given Lucius what he wanted in exchange for them letting Draco go. But with how easily Bellatrix had killed the blond boy, not having even thought twice about it before snapping his neck, Harry was sure that Draco would have been killed either way.

Hearing footsteps coming down the hall, Harry lifted his head, narrowing his eyes as he waited to see who it was that decided to take a turn to come and torture him.

“It is a wonder that you have lived this long, Potter, with the kind of messes you get yourself into.” The far too familiar voice of Snape had Harry shocked as he stared up at the potions master.

“You... how... what are you doing here?” Harry asked. Snape didn't answer however, as he caught sight of the dead body of Draco. He visibly stiffened, forcing his gaze away and focusing back on Harry when the boy continued speaking. “You have to get me out of here,” Harry said, keeping his voice soft, as though someone were listening in on them.

“Is that why you think I am here? To clean up this mess you have once again created?” Snape sneered, his words and tone of voice seemed to catch Harry off guard.

“Dumbledore sent you, didn't he?” Harry asked. He and Snape didn't have a perfect relationship, they would never be friends, but they had at least reached an understanding. Or so Harry had thought. However, the cold look he was receiving from his potions professor now was making him rethink the trust he had put in this man.

“Dumbledore does not know I am even here,” Snape said, pulling his wand out slowly. “You are a foolish child, you trust people far too easily. I am sure, given time, even the Dark Lord himself can gain your trust and support,” Snape said, his lips twitching into a slight smirk before he waved his wand.

Harry continued to stare with wide eyes and, when he saw his teacher's wand, Harry started struggling against his bindings, truly trying to get free and ignoring the bite of metal cutting the skin around his wrists the more he pulled.

“Crucio.” Harry was screaming even before the spell hit him, his body convulsing in pain as he thrashed about. The curse seemed to hurt far more than he remembered, however, Harry couldn't form any coherent thought, all that mattered was that every nerve in his body was on fire, there was nothing to compare this pain to because nothing ever hurt this much.

Snape held the curse on Harry, watching as the boy screamed and thrashed about on the floor, the chains binding the boy's wrists digging in deeper until he could see blood dripping through the shackles. The potions master was sickened to admit how easy it was for him to cast the curse on the boy, and how easily he would be able to cast it over and over again. Lifting the curse, letting Harry breath for a few moments, Snape looked once again to the body of Draco. The thing was an eyesore, and left there just to cause Harry more pain.

Flicking his wand Snape, incinerated the corpse. Harry's scream echoed through the dungeon again and Snape looked back at the boy, who was watching the spot where Draco's body had been. The boy had thought it really was Draco; deciding to use this to his advantage, Snape narrowed his eyes at Harry again. “Another person has died because of you. How many more people are going to have to die for you? What has ever made you so special?” Snape hissed and Harry looked up at the man; green eyes shone with unshed tears, Lily's eyes, and for a moment Snape faltered. Closing his eyes for a moment and reminding himself why he was doing this, Snape cast the Cruciatus curse again without looking directly at the boy.

It was more painful to watch this time as Harry grit his teeth, keeping his mouth shut tightly in an attempt not to scream, green eyes closed tightly as the body jerked about, trying to escape the cause of his pain. “Worthless boy,” Snape said, and now Harry was screaming again, pain mixed with pure anger as a powerful burst of magic broke through the wards surrounding Harry's cell, and the chains binding the boy exploded off, sending tiny shards of metal flying in all directions.

The whole house was shaking as Harry's magic was finally free. “Harry-” Snape, who had a cut to his face and several tears in his robes from exploded manacles, began to say, but he was blasted back against the stone wall; Harry's whole being was pulsing with raw magic as he glared at his potions professor.

Footsteps could be heard as people hurried down to the dungeon to find out what was going on. It was only moments before they burst into the room and saw Harry standing, still inside his now destroyed cell and Snape being held against the wall by an invisible force.

“Quick! Someone use the spell!” one of the Death Eaters said and multiple people had their wands pointed at Harry, though none of them even got a chance to say a single spell as Harry's magic lashed out at them next, stunning most of them. With Harry momentarily distracted, Snape was let go; taking advantage of this, the potions master twisted on the spot and vanished.

The small angry boy paid no attention to Snape running away. Now that he was out and his magic was free, he had to get out of there; silently wishing that he could just apparate out like Snape had, Harry started pulling his magic back inside, keeping a tight hold on it, hissing at the burning, his body still sensitive from the curse that Bellatrix had put on him before.

With his pathway cleared, Harry climbed over the Death Eaters, not really caring if he stepped on any of them on his way up the stairs. The door at the top had been left open in their hurry to get down to him and Harry pushed his way through, coming out to stand in a hallway. He closed the dungeon door behind him frowning at the painting that the door was hidden behind; it looked like a normal painting of a rather elaborate garden and Harry was thankful that there was no one in the painting to raise the alarm.

Looking left then right, Harry decided to try the left hallway first; if he could find a door or a window he could escape that way. Making sure to keep a tight hold on his magic, he kept the image of Draco firmly in his mind, fueling his anger, which in turn fueled his magic. The last thing he wanted was to have his magic too calm for him to do anything if he ran into any other Death Eaters.

\---------------x

Remus quietly excused himself from the kitchen; the Order meeting was long over and now all they could do was wait again for more news.

“Where you off too?” Sirius asked when Remus stood up from the table.

“Someone should tell Draco and Blaise that Snape has been called to see Voldemort,” Remus said, sighing when Sirius growled at the mention of Harry's bond-mates. “You don't have to talk to them, Sirius, but they have a right to know.”

“It's their fucking fault that Harry's been captured to begin with!” Sirius snapped and Remus just shook his head, telling himself that Sirius would calm down when Harry was back safe and sound, but the werewolf knew that wasn't true. This whole incident just made Sirius distrust the two Slytherins even more than he already did.

“Maybe, but they are still bonded to Harry and should at least know what's going on,” Remus said.

“Whatever,” Sirius snarled, looking back down at the coffee cup that he currently had clutched in both hands, if Remus hadn't seen his friend fill the cup with coffee he would have assumed that the cup held something stronger. Without saying another word, Remus turned and left the kitchen, going to the sitting room to use the fireplace in there.

Kneeling down in front of the fire, Remus threw some floo powder in and watched the flames turn green; he called out the destination before sticking his head in. A moment later a nicely furnished room appeared. “Hello?” Remus called out tentatively. A house elf appeared in front of him, looking at him curiously. “I need to talk to Mr. Malfoy, or Mr. Zabini, if either of them are available?” Remus requested and the elf nodded before vanishing again.

It was only a few moments later when Blaise came into the room. He paused when he saw that it was Remus in the fireplace and not Snape like he had expected. “What do you want?” Blaise asked. not even attempting to speak more politely.

“I thought that you would like to know that Snape's been summoned by Voldemort, we're waiting for him to come back at the moment,” Remus explained and Blaise nodded.

“Is that all?” Blaise asked.

Remus let out a small sigh and nodded. “For now, someone will let you know when we find out anything else.” However, before anything else could be said, another house elf appeared in the room looking at Blaise with wide eyes in panic.

“I is coming as quick as I can, Master! It is Master Malfoy, sir, he is not being well, not well at all. He is needing yous, sir, he is being in his room right now,” the creature squeaked out and Blaise frowned for a moment.

“Is everything okay?” Remus asked looking from the elf to Blaise.

“I'm not sure,” Blaise replied before he hurried out of the room heading up the stairs to Draco's room. He could hear screaming before he had even reached the top. Moving quicker, Blaise ran down the hall and burst into Draco's room, his eyes landing on his blond boyfriend as he watched Draco writhing around on the floor in obvious pain. Blaise remembered what his mother had said to him earlier that morning, that Draco was already suffering enough for his mistake, however, Blaise hadn't thought that Draco would have kept the bond open with Harry, knowing what their boyfriend was most likely going through.

Another scream from Draco had Blaise moving forward, dropping to his knees next to the blond boy. “Draco, close the bond, block it off,” Blaise demanded but Draco shook his head, gritting his teeth to stop himself from screaming again. “You suffering like this isn't the way to make up for any of this!”

“I know that!” Draco hissed out. “But I refuse to abandon him!” Draco closed his eyes tightly; he had been trying to fight through the pain, wanting to send some sort of reassurance through the bond, to let Harry know that he wasn't alone, however, each attempt only seemed to echo back more pain. Draco's hand shot out suddenly to grip tightly at Blaise's arm as the pain he was feeling through the bond took on a whole new level.

Blaise wanted to ask what was happening, if Draco was in this much pain, then he didn't even want to think about what Harry was feeling. However, before he could ask anything he felt a shudder go through him, before he felt the familiar pull that he associated with Harry's magic.

“His magic is going crazy,” Blaise said, helping Draco sit up as best he could. The blond boy slumped against Blaise's shoulder, too tired to hold himself up at the moment.

“We have to go get him... he'll kill himself this time if we don't stop him...” Draco tried to stand but Blaise stopped him.

“You're in no shape to go anywhere at the moment, not to mention showing up at Malfoy Manor right now would be committing suicide. I may still be angry with you but I don't want to see you dead,” Blaise said and Draco looked up at him.

“I really didn't mean for this to happen, Blaise,” Draco tried to say but Blaise put a hand over his mouth to stop him from talking.

“Not right now, Draco, we can talk about this at great length when we have Harry back,” Blaise said firmly and Draco could only nod his head in agreement.

\--------------x

Harry was sure that he must be getting closer to an exit, he had tried a few doors to find them all locked, and so far there hadn't been any windows for him to try as he had been going from one hallway to the next. At one point Harry was sure that the house must be trying to keep him trapped inside, because each hallway looked the same, and also Harry couldn't imagine any house having to be quite so large.

Finally after what seemed like hours of trying doors and moving as quickly and quietly as he could, Harry found himself in what he thought was the center of the house, as there was a staircase leading upwards. There were more doors leading off into other sections of the house but Harry's attention was caught by the set of double doors directly across from him; they were slightly open. He moved across the hall and paused just in front of the doors, deciding that he would just have a look inside, see if there was a door that lead to outside, or perhaps a fireplace that he could use to floo back to Italy, or even Hogwarts, anywhere as long as it wasn't here.

Harry wasn't able to see much through the door, so he chanced pushing it open a little more. The room inside appeared to be quite large as Harry still couldn't see all of it but there was no sign of a fireplace in there, however, he did see a few windows that looked promising. Taking a deep breath, Harry scanned the room as best he could while slowly pushing the door open wider.

Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up seconds before a spell hit the door, shattering the wood and causing Harry to jump back in surprise, his eyes wide as he looked in the direction the spell had come from.

“Leaving so soon, Harry?” Voldemort hissed and Harry narrowed his eyes at the snake faced man, his magic still burning just under his skin. “I may have over exaggerated your usefulness, perhaps it would be best if I just disposed of you now,” Voldemort said, aiming his wand at Harry, who didn't move.

Harry stood there waiting ready to start dodging anything Voldemort could throw at him, loosening the hold he had on his magic a little, feeling the air around him spark with the wild magic. “You've never managed to do that before, what makes you think now will be any different?” Harry asked with a cheeky grin.

“Insolent boy.” Voldemort threw the first spell and Harry managed to move out of the way easily, and it began. Harry moved about dodging each spell thrown at him. It was far too similar to when he had seen the snake faced man before, still shirtless and wandless, trying to stay on his feet and away from anything thrown at him. The only difference this time was the fact that Harry could use his magic; he could still feel it just under his skin, waiting to be let loose.

“You will never win, Potter!” Voldemort hissed, sounding more than a little frustrated as Harry dodged another spell shot at him. “What do you have to gain, by fighting me now? Bellatrix has told me that the Malfoy boy is already dead, it won't be long before others join him,”

“Go ahead! Keep making me more angry, you bastard!” Harry shouted. “You killed my parents, you killed Cedric! And now you killed Draco! I will NOT allow you to kill anyone else that I love!” Harry let his magic loose in a quick burst, just enough to send Voldemort back a few feet and give the dark wizard a small taste of the magic he was up against. Harry thought he saw a look of surprise cross Voldemort's face but it was gone too quickly to tell.

“Love,” Voldemort scoffed at the word. “Love makes you weak.” Voldemort shot another curse at Harry, who dodged it easily. “And I will kill everyone you hold dear, I will burn Hogwarts to the ground and force you to watch as I rip apart the world you care so much about,” Voldemort hissed verbally, echoing the words in Harry's mind while showing the boy a mental picture of what he had envisioned.

Harry's eyes widened at the vivid image of Hogwarts in flames, the lake a dark crimson color from the amount of blood spilled while the grounds surrounding the school were covered with the bodies of students, Harry's own mind supplying the rest of the image with the faces of people he loved and cared about. It was that image that made him finally snap; no longer holding his magic back, Harry let it all go. The windows in the room shattered as Harry screamed, his eyes locked on Voldemort's as the dark wizard tried firing one spell after another at Harry, each and every one of them being blocked by the raw power surrounding Harry. That same raw power forced its way down through the bond that Harry had with Voldemort, burning the connection as it went.

Harry sank to the floor, no longer screaming as he watched his magic work on Voldemort, the snake faced man stumbling back as he tried to fight off the invisible force that seemed to have taken over his body. Over in the corner, Nagini was thrashing about as well before she stilled completely, her eyes open but unseeing.

Voldemort fell to the floor. “I... will... not... loose...” he hissed, still holding his wand as he aimed it towards Harry. “Avada... keda... v...” The words stopped as the red eyes went blank and Voldemort slumped over dead on the floor, leaving Harry sitting there staring at the man who had been aiming the killing curse at him once again, unsure about what had happened, or what his magic had actually done.

TBC

And another chapter down, ONE MORE TO GO! Seriously! I am so excited about this! I can't believe I am almost done with this whole story...it's a little sad, though at the same time, I am kind of glad to be seeing the end of this, because now I can focus on my other stories.  
I would also like to point out that the cliff hanger in this chapter was totally my beta reader's fault!

Spell Ardens Sanguinis: It means Burning Blood, I think it is a little self explanatory. It slowly heats up a persons blood until the person literally starts burning up from the inside. There are two ways to stop the curse, the first one is if the caster cancels the curse, the second way is to basically get rid of the 'bad blood' in the body, the fastest way to do this is by of course bleeding. The deeper the cut, the better.  
I didn't use this spell to it's full extent, as the whole scene I had written out was far to grousoum and I felt it didn't have much of a place in this story.

That being said, please feel free to look me up on Facebook under Celtic Kitsune!


	29. Chapter 29

Unwanted Bonds  
Chapter 29

Sirius had vacated the kitchen, even though that was most likely where Snape would go if he returned, since the rest of the Order were seated in there waiting for news about Harry. They were waiting for orders about what they had to do to get him back. But Sirius couldn't handle just sitting and waiting, so he was currently pacing around the downstairs sitting room instead.

Remus had left him alone for a good hour before he came in search of his friend. The werewolf didn't say anything as he took a seat and just watched Sirius pace around the room.

“What happens if Snape doesn't come back?” Sirius asked as he continued walking in tight circles around the room, still not looking at Remus.

“He'll come back,” Remus said and Sirius snorted. Remus sighed, shaking his head. “I know you still don't think we can trust him,”

“I know we can trust him,” Sirius interrupted, pausing to look at his friend. “It's not easy to admit, but I trust him more than I do anyone else in this place besides you,” Sirius said, running a hand through his shaggy hair. “I asked him for help, to get Harry out of Britain and away from those muggles he's been living with,” Sirius admitted. “That's what makes it even worse though; if I know that we can trust Snape, then it's only a matter of time before old Voldie finds out that Snape is the spy, if he hasn't figured that out already.” Sirius sighed, looking at Remus again.

“Snape has been doing this for a very long time, Sirius, I don't think he's about to start making stupid mistakes now,” Remus said and stood up.

“I just don't know how much more of this I can handle, Remus,” Sirius admitted. “I've already failed Harry enough times in his life, and just when things are starting to finally look like it might be turning around, this happens.”

“I know,” Remus sighed. “Let's go back to the kitchen to wait for Snape there. If he comes back with any news that's the first place he's going to go,” Remus said and Sirius reluctantly agreed. He still wasn't in much of a mood to be around all those people, though he had to admit that Remus had a point.

Heading back to the kitchen, Sirius paused when he heard raised voices and shook his head. He had thought the arguments about the rescue plans had been long over by now; however, as he pushed the door to the kitchen open, he saw Snape standing at the end of the table, waving off Molly, who was trying to offer him a cloth to stop the bleeding from a cut on his cheek.

“The wards around the manor have fallen, Potter is in a very fragile state at the moment and may have already escaped on his own,” Snape said and was drowned out by more loud voices.

“If the wards are down we HAVE to go get him!” Tonks said, standing next to Moody, who was giving her a disapproving look.

“We have a plan,” Moody growled out, “we can't just barge into enemy territory without knowing-”

“You heard Snape, Harry's in a fragile state, he may not have time for us to come up with a better plan than going in and getting him out now,” Tonks argued back.

“I'm afraid I have to agree with Moody; we don't know how many Death Eaters have been called in after Snape left,” Kingsley said.

“We can't just leave him there!” Molly spoke up now, looking around the table at everyone.

“We don't intend to leave the boy there,” Moody said, his gruff voice still being heard over everyone. “We have to take into account that they may have already re-captured him and moved him to a new secure location,” Moody pointed out.

“The longer we stand here arguing about it, the longer we give them to do just that! But if we move out now...” Tonks argued.

“We need a solid plan, unless you want everyone including Potter to be killed!” Moody snapped.

“Enough!” Dumbledore declared loudly, stopping all arguments. “We cannot leave Harry where he is; the whole reason for this was to get Harry out. Severus, is it possible to go in and get the boy out now?” Dumbledore asked and all eyes went to the Potions Master.

“I believe if we act quickly, and act now, we will have a chance of getting him out. He was losing hold on his magic when I was forced to return here; though he appeared to have some form of control over it for the moment, I don't know how long that will last. Whatever we do, it has to be done quickly,” Snape said, looking at Dumbledore, who nodded.

“Very well. Moody, Tonks, Kingsley,” the Headmaster said, before pausing and looking over toward the door where Sirius and Remus were standing, “Remus; you four will go with Severus and bring Harry home-”

“I'm going too,” Sirius interrupted, glaring at Dumbledore. “I'm not going to stand here and argue with anyone about this; he's my godson and I'm going too,” Sirius said and Dumbledore nodded.

“You must leave quickly, Severus; you are the one with the best knowledge of what kind of medical attention Harry will need,” Dumbledore said while Moody gathered up his small group of people, and they wasted no time before leaving.

\-----------------x

No one in the Manor seemed to know what was going on. The wards around the house had fallen and there was wild magic pulsing through the air, so thick it was nearly suffocating. Narcissa, however, ignored it all in her search for Harry. After checking the dungeon and finding only a destroyed cell, and five unconscious bodies of Death Eaters, she had concluded that Harry was most definitely the cause of the frantic movements throughout the Manor.

If Harry truly had escaped the dungeon and was running about the house, Narcissa wasn't sure how she was supposed to go about looking for the boy now; that was until she saw a small trail of blood leading down the hall, away from the painting of the garden. There wasn't a lot of it, just a few flecks of red here and there, but it was something at least.

Narcissa followed the trail of blood to the center of the house. Her eyes immediately went to the door on the far side of the hall, which lead to the ballroom that Voldemort had changed into a throne room for himself. The door to the room was open, and a good part of it was shattered. Quickly and quietly she made her way over, half afraid of what she would find in there; pulling out her wand and gripping it tightly, she gently pushed the destroyed door open the rest of the way.

Narcissa wasn't quite sure what to make of the scene before her. Harry was kneeling on the floor near the center of the room, blood dripping down his arm from a freely bleeding wound on his shoulder; he was staring straight ahead at the fallen form of Voldemort, though the Dark Lord was barely recognisable, his deathly pale skin having turned black, as if it had been charred. The sight made Narcissa feel ill so she quickly turned her attention away from Voldemort and back towards Harry. The boy still hadn't moved and Narcissa went to take a step towards him, however, movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Bellatrix was hiding in the shadows, also taking in what had apparently had only just happened in this room, her face twisted in rage. “You filthy half blood!” Bellatrix screeched, pulling her wand.

Harry turned quickly to look in the direction of Bellatrix, his eyes wide, trying to stumble to his feet; he was, however, tapped, his magic spent, and he couldn't move fast enough to dodge the spell that was most likely going to be the killing curse. There was a flash of green light and Harry closed his eyes tightly, waiting for pain, for his heart to just stop, but nothing happened. Harry wasn't sure what being hit by the killing curse was supposed to feel like but he was sure that there must be something to it, and he was fairly sure he was still alive.

“Harry,” a gentle voice called out, hands touching his face and tilting it upwards. Slowly he opened his eyes so he could look into the blue ones' of Narcissa. “Harry, we must leave now, it is not safe here,” Narcissa said. Harry just blinked at her, turning his head slowly until he saw the body of Bellatrix.

“...you killed her?” Harry asked, trying to wrap his mind around what he was seeing.

“I did,” Narcissa said simply and watched the small boy as he then turned to look at the charred remains of Voldemort.

“...my magic... I think it burned him...” Harry said, sounding lost and unsure of what to do at the moment. “I don't know how I did it...” he admitted, looking back up at Narcissa.

“It's okay, Harry, let's get you home. Blaise and Draco are waiting,” she said, however, her words had an unforeseen effect on the boy. Those green eyes, already wide, got impossibly wider as he stared up at her.

“Draco... he... they...” Tears filled the wide eyes as Harry remembered the beaten body of Draco.

“Shh, Harry, it's going to be okay, let's get you home,” Narcissa said again, pulling Harry close to her, being careful with his injured arm. “I'm going to apparate us out of here, you must hold on to me tightly,” she instructed.

Harry continued to stare up at her; he couldn't help but think that Narcissa must not know about Draco's death yet, that was the only possible reason for her being so calm at the moment.

“...I couldn't help him, I didn't know they had him... and they killed him...” Harry said.

Narcissa looked worriedly down at the small boy. “It's okay,” she said again. “Hold on tight now.” Tightening her own hold on Harry, she turned on the spot; the last sight that either of them saw was Sirius bursting into the throne room, just as they vanished.

\------------x

Sirius stared at the spot that he had just seen Harry vanish from; someone had taken Harry away again. He was shaking in anger as he heard footsteps behind him and he turned, aiming his wand just in case it was a Death Eater, only to find Remus standing there. The werewolf was looking around the room and taking in the damage left over from a fight, before his eyes landed on the still smoldering remains of Voldemort and his snake.

“What happened?” Remus asked, his nose scrunched up as he caught the scent of burning flesh.

“Someone took Harry again!” Sirius growled, not really caring about the state of Malfoy Manor when his godson was once again missing; they had been so close.

“Was it a Death Eater?” Remus asked, turning his attention back toward Sirius.

“How the bloody hell would I know that?" Sirius snapped. "Probably it was, there isn't anyone else in this fucking place.”

“Sirius, I know you're mad, but try to slow down and think, look around you for a moment,” Remus said motioning to the marks around the wall, and the destroyed door. “There was obviously a fight in here, if the blackened corpse over there wasn't enough of an indication of that,” Remus said as he motioned toward the body of Voldemort. Sirius did look at the corpse, his eyes going from Voldemort to the dead snake in the corner, slowly looking around the room until his eyes fell on the third dead body. Bellatrix was lying on the floor, half hidden behind one of the decorative pillars. 

"Think Harry did this?" Sirius asked, glancing back at Remus. The werewolf just looked sick, most likely from the smell that was filling the room.

"I would rather not think about that at the moment. Let's go find the others and tell them Harry isn't here." Remus left the room quickly to get away from the sight and smell. Sirius followed after his friend, glancing over his shoulder worriedly; there had been a fight in that room, a fight that had left Voldemort and Bellatrix dead, and Harry once again missing.

They found Tonks in the library just off the main entrance hall. She had apparently been appointed guard duty over the currently unconscious Death Eaters and her eyes and wand quickly focused on the door when Remus and Sirius came in.

“There you two are,” she said, letting out a long sigh. “You know, Moody is pissed that you ran off, he's going to lecture you both about how you compromised the mission and some rubbish like that. Did you find Harry?” she asked quickly, glancing around the two men to see if the small boy was hiding somewhere behind them.

“Harry was taken again,” Sirius said in annoyance, clenching his fists. Remus put a hand on his friend's arm in an attempt to calm him, before looking back at Tonks.

“We don't have any proof that Harry was taken away by a Death Eater though,” Remus informed her. “The ballroom just across the hall has signs of a pretty serious fight, and we found Voldemort and Bellatrix in there, both dead.” Remus watched as Tonks' eyes widened.

“You two stay and watch this lot; if any of them show signs of waking, stun them again,” Tonks said quickly before hurrying out of the room, presumably to go investigate the room they had just told her about.

“More waiting,” Sirius growled, gripping his wand tightly.

“We know that Harry's still alive,” Remus pointed out.

“For how much longer? If that was a Death Eater-”

“And we can't panic until we know for sure. If we assume that Harry was the one who just killed Voldemort, I don't think any Death Eater would have thought to kidnap Harry again; their first thought most likely would have been to kill Harry as well,” Remus pointed out, knowing he was grasping at straws at the moment, though he thought it was still a valid point.

Sirius let out another growl of frustration and started to pace the room, stopping a few inches away from a Death Eater that had started to wake up; a swift kick to the man's head had him falling unconscious again. Remus sighed but didn't reprimand his friend.

It was no more than a few minutes before Kingsley came into the room, escorting Lucius Malfoy at wand point. He paused when he saw that it was Remus and Sirius in the room and not Tonks. “Where did Tonks go?” Kingsley questioned.

“She went to see if Voldemort really is dead,” Sirius said in explanation. “Why is he still upright and walking?” he asked, nodding towards Lucius.

“Because 'he' has surrendered willingly without a fight,” Lucius answered before Kingsley could.

“Why would you do that?” Sirius sneered.

“I am under no obligation to answer you,” Lucius said haughtily, which seemed to just infuriate Sirius even more.

“Now what was this you said about Voldemort?” Kingsley questioned promptly before the two men could start something. Sirius sighed and once again explained what he and Remus had found in the ballroom.

“And Harry's not here, he was taken by someone,” Sirius added and glanced at Lucius. “Don't suppose you would know who might have taken him?” he asked the blond man, since Lucius was the only Death Eater currently awake for questioning.

“As a matter of fact I do,” Lucius said, the other three men watching him expectantly, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, Sirius let out a low growl, taking half a step towards the blond man.

“Tell me!” Sirius demanded and Remus grabbed his friend’s arm stopping him.

“Sirius, getting angry isn't going to help anything at the moment,” Remus said.

“You should listen to the werewolf,” Lucius said with a small smirk. Sirius couldn't understand this man at all; his lord was dead, his wife and son had left him, he was captured and facing life in Azkaban, and yet he still had a superior attitude to the whole situation. Sirius ground his teeth together, wanting nothing more than to punch Lucius right in the face.

“Remus, Sirius, I think we've got the rest of this handled, why don't you two head back and we'll let you know as soon as we find out any more information,” Kingsley said. Remus nodded, pulling on Sirius' arm to get his friend moving, knowing that there would be a better chance of getting Lucius to talk when the man didn't have Sirius there to provoke.

“Let's go give the others an update about what's going on. With Voldemort dead, Dumbledore is going to want to know,” Remus said, sighing in relief when Sirius reluctantly followed him.

\----------------x

Harry decided that the only form of magical travel he liked was flying. The floo always left him with bruised knees from falling out of the fireplace; portkeys were officially out of the question for him, he doubted he would ever trust using a portkey ever again; and now apparition, the new sensation was not something that Harry was very fond of, though he suspected that it might not be quite so bad if he hadn't already been feeling so sick.

As soon as his feet were firmly on the ground again, he pushed away from Narcissa, falling to the floor as his stomach protested violently to the new form of travel it had just been subjected to. Dry heaving and coughing, Harry felt as if he might pass out; he had had no food since his capture, something he remembered as his stomach cramped painfully as he finished another round of dry heaving.

Narcissa was next to him again, her hand resting comfortingly on his shoulder while she called for a house elf. “Go bring my son and Blaise down here,” she ordered the small creature before her full attention was on Harry again. “Draco and Blaise will be down here in a moment,” Narcissa said, frowning at how much Harry was trembling. She wanted to go and call for a healer, however, she was reluctant to leave Harry on his own.

She heard footsteps rapidly approaching and looked up just as Blaise came barging into the room, Draco right behind him. Both boys hesitated when they saw Harry on the floor, and Narcissa kneeling next to him, but only for a moment.

“Mother... how...?” Draco started asking but Blaise had already moved forward, kneeling next to Harry and gently pulling the smaller boy towards him. Harry, however, protested to being moved so suddenly, coughing as he dry heaved again.

“I will explain later, Draco; see to him while I go and contact a healer,” Narcissa said and she went to do just that, leaving Harry in the care of his bond-mates. Draco watched her go before looking back at Blaise.

“Let's move him somewhere more comfortable,” Draco suggested, still keeping his distance, though he felt the pull of the bond telling him that Harry was here and that Harry needed him. However, Draco knew that Blaise still wasn't all that happy with him, and with what Harry had been going through for the last two days, Draco was sure that the smaller boy wasn't going to be all that happy with him either.

Blaise glanced up at Draco and nodded before looking down at Harry. The smaller boy was taking deep, slow breaths and seemed to be calming down, though he was still trembling. “Harry, do you think you can stand?” the Italian boy questioned, watching as Harry slowly turned his head to look at him, blinking slowly as if trying to register what he was actually seeing.

“Blaise...?” Harry's voice cracked and was hardly above a whisper, and when Blaise smiled at him, Harry practically fell against the tan boy, tears falling freely from his eyes.

“It's okay now, Harry, you're home, we've got you,” Blaise said, wrapping strong arms around Harry as his small boyfriend clung to him.

“I'm sorry,” Harry cried, burying his face in Blaise's chest, his hand clutching at the fabric of the Italian boy's shirt. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” Harry kept repeating the same words and it concerned Blaise even more as he wasn't sure what Harry was apologising for.

“You've got nothing to be sorry for, Harry,” Blaise said soothingly. “Let's get you off the floor and maybe into the sitting room,” Blaise suggested, however, Harry just seemed to ignore him.

“I couldn't save him! I wanted to... but I couldn't, they... they killed him...” Harry babbled. Blaise looked from Harry, up towards Draco, wondering if the blond boy could make any sense of what Harry was saying. Draco had moved closer, though was still refraining from touching Harry, since the smaller boy was curled up so tightly against Blaise and hadn't even acknowledged that Draco was standing a few feet away.

“Who did they kill, Harry?” Draco asked. He wanted to help, however, he knew that Harry might not accept his help at the moment. Draco was unable to make any sense from what he was picking up through the bond. Harry's emotions seemed to be all over the place at the moment, not that Draco was all that surprised really; he had a rough idea what Harry had been through in the past forty-eight hours, and it was going to take a little time for Harry to calm down and work out exactly what was going on.

Harry's crying and babbling stopped abruptly when Draco spoke, his whole body going rigid in Blaise's arms. Blaise instinctively held Harry tighter, giving the smaller boy a worried look. The smaller boy pulled back slowly, and turned somewhat hesitantly to look at Draco. Wide green eyes locked with worried grey ones. Harry paled when he saw Draco standing there.

“...Draco...?” They could all hear the disbelief in Harry's voice, however, Draco felt something different through the bond, an overwhelming sense of fear. Before anyone could say anything, Harry had pulled roughly away from Blaise, standing and moving away from his two bond mates, though Harry's eyes never left Draco.

Shaking his head slowly, Harry continued backing up until he felt the solid wall behind him and couldn't go any further. “... no... no, I can't do this...” Harry whispered, still shaking his head. Harry didn't think he would be able to handle any more dreams, even though he had only had two; the last one had been painful enough. Harry felt even more guilt for not being able to save Draco, and fear that he was going to be made to watch his blond bond mate die right in front of him again. Harry was sure he wouldn't be able to handle that; watching Draco be killed once was more than enough.

“Harry, I'm sorry,” Draco said, misreading the emotions he was picking up from Harry. The emotional pain mixed with fear wasn't anywhere as overwhelming as what Draco had been picking up from Harry the past two days, but it still wasn't pleasant.

Harry was trying to get his head around what was happening but he felt dreadful and everything was so confusing. He couldn't even work out when this dream must have begun, and now this Draco was apologising for something. He blinked in confusion at Draco. “You're sorry?”

The blond boy nodded, taking half a step closer to Harry but stopped, seemingly holding himself back from going to hold the smaller boy. “I'm sorry about the portkey, you were never meant to find it... I never meant for any of this to happen to you,” Draco said.

Harry, however, was even more confused as he looked from Draco to Blaise and back again. This didn't seem like the dreams but he was almost scared to hope that it was real, lest it be taken away again; either way he wasn't going to pass up time with Draco that he thought he might never again have, perhaps get the chance to apologise to him for not being able to save him, even if this Draco didn't know what Harry was apologising for. “You're not dead,” Harry said, more as a statement instead of a question.

“No, he's not dead,” Blaise said with a confused frown, catching Harry's attention. “Though believe me when I found out what happened, I wanted to kill him. We can talk about all this once you're sitting down, and after the healer looks at your arm,” Blaise said, moving forward to stand next to Harry again.

Harry looked down, blinking when he saw the slowly bleeding gash still on his arm, though it wasn't bleeding as badly as it had been before. Reaching up, Harry gently touched it, feeling a slight sting.

“Malfoy did this...” Harry said, sounding a bit dazed. “...he did it to stop the burning...” Frowning, he looked back over at Draco again. “Why aren't you dead?” he asked, not seeming to realise how bad that question actually sounded. Everything that was happening, had happened in reality, the only thing out of place here was Draco.

“Harry, we can talk about all this later,” Blaise said again as he gently started guiding Harry out of the entrance hall and toward the sitting room. Harry, however, kept looking behind him at Draco, the blond boy following a bit more slowly.

Harry was settled on the settee, and a house elf brought him a cup of water, and brought Blaise a rag and a bowl of warm water so he could at least clean the gash on Harry's arm. The smaller boy looked over to where Draco was standing just inside the door. “This is another dream... isn't it?” Harry asked, still unable to shake the fear that this very well might not be real, that he was going to have to lose Draco all over again.

“It's not a dream,” Blaise answered firmly, trying to hide his own confusion; it was clear right now that Harry was in no state to be explaining anything much at the moment and so he was going to focus on just reassuring his boyfriend as best he could. Harry didn't look at all convinced and after a few moments, he sighed.

“That's what the last dream said... How... how do I know it's not a dream?” Harry asked, looking at Blaise.

“Does this feel like a dream?” Blaise questioned and Harry shook his head.

“No, but the last dream felt real too... I... I don't know how to tell if this is a dream or not... but, Draco's alive, so... it has to be a dream,” Harry said, looking over at the blond; he didn't sound at all sure of himself. He was torn between knowing this must be a dream, and desperately hoping that it wasn't.

“What does me being alive have to do with anything?” Draco asked, stepping further into the room.

“...Bellatrix killed you...” Harry answered softly, still remembering the sound of Draco's neck being snapped, the bruised and battered body propped up against the bars where Harry was sure to see it; the pile of ash that had been left after Snape had been finished. Rage and disgust suddenly flooded Harry's senses, being jerked out of his thoughts suddenly and looking up at Draco with wide eyes.

“Draco, calm down!” Blaise snapped at the blond boy when he saw the angry look on Draco's face; the last thing that he wanted was for Draco to get angry and in turn affect Harry's magic.

“No!” Harry said quickly, standing up and ignoring Blaise's protests. “No... don't stop, stay angry. I... I can feel you,” Harry said, looking at Draco with an expression of pure relief and wonder. “I can feel our bond... it's still there!”

“It's always been there, Harry,” Draco said, looking a little confused now, and feeling more than a little worried about Harry's sanity at the moment. It had only been two days, however, whatever they had done to Harry in that time had clearly affected him greatly.

“It wouldn't be there if you were really dead!” Harry pointed out, tears falling down his face as he stumbled slightly in his hurry to reach Draco. Wrapping his arms tightly around the startled blond boy, Harry clung to him. Draco wrapped his arms around Harry, holding him comfortingly, feeding a feeling of reassurance through their bond. He had so many questions for the smaller boy, but now was most definitely not the time to be questioning Harry.

“Maybe... do we have a way to contact Snape?” Blaise asked. Even though Narcissa had gone to get a healer, Blaise was a little worried about Harry's mental state, and since Snape had already been working with Harry, the Italian figured that Snape would be the best person to talk with Harry about what had happened at Malfoy Manor.

Harry, still holding onto Draco, turned his head to look at Blaise. “If you bring Snape here I will kill him,” he said bluntly, his voice full of more hate for the man than ever before.

“Harry, what exactly happened at the manor?” Draco asked ignoring the warning look he was getting from Blaise. He already knew that now was not the best time to be questioning Harry about anything, however, the sooner that Harry talked about it, the sooner that they would have a better idea of what their small boyfriend had gone through.

Harry chewed on his lower lip debating on if he actually wanted to talk about this now or shove it off to the side and just forget about it. But with how he was feeling at the moment, his options were going to be either talk, or fall asleep. And Harry wasn't too keen on the idea of falling asleep just yet, so he agreed to answer whatever questions Blaise and Draco had for him. Harry still clung to his blond boyfriend as Draco settled him back down on the settee, and was forced to sit next to him since Harry refused to let him go. Blaise returned to his self-appointed task of cleaning Harry's wound as the smaller boy began telling them what happened over the last two days.

\---------------x

Elladora was waiting for Narcissa by the time she returned to the Manor with a healer in tow. She had heard that Harry had been found, but had been reluctant to disturb the boys, once she had realised that Harry was actually talking to Blaise and Draco about what had happened.

"They're in the sitting room," Elladora informed Narcissa before the woman even had a chance to ask. And so the three of them headed to the sitting room, Narcissa leading the way, a healer and Elladora following behind. Harry frowned at the healer, holding a bit more tightly onto Draco when the man came directly over to him, practically pushing Blaise out of the way so that he could stand in front of Harry.

“Mrs. Malfoy tells me that you require medical attention,” the healer said and Harry frowned.

“No, I'm fine. Blaise already cleaned the only wound that I got, you can go away now,” Harry said, knowing he was being rude, however, he really didn't like this man.

Draco chuckled, kissing Harry's cheek before whispering to him. “Just let him look you over real quick. He can heal the wound on your arm and then we can kick him out,” Draco promised and Harry sighed, leaning more heavily against Draco, but made no further protest as the healer pulled out his wand and began waving it over him.

Harry refused to move away from Draco the whole time the healer was trying to work, which made things slightly difficult for the healer, but Harry didn't care. He couldn't bring himself to let go of Draco just yet, still half afraid that this might still turn out to be a dream and that, as soon as he let go of the blond boy, something bad would happen and Harry would be forced to wake up.

“Alright,” the healer spoke some time later, snapping Harry out of his thoughts, “you are patched up. There really wasn't much physical damage, other than the cut on your arm. But that has been healed,” the healer explained, pulling out a potion and handing it to Harry. “If there is any more pain, this should help with that.”

Harry shook his head. “No, I'm not in pain,” Harry said.

“No, but you're beyond tired and have been fighting to stay conscious for the last hour,” Draco said and Harry looked at him.

“I don't want to sleep,” Harry admitted and Draco sighed, reaching up to brush his hand through Harry's hair. “You have to get some rest, Harry. I promise I'm still going to be here when you wake up,” Draco reassured.

“...I'm more worried that I won't be here when I wake up...” Harry admitted softly.

“Would it be better if Draco and I came to lay down with you?” Blaise offered and Harry looked at him, nodding slowly.

“Maybe? I still can't promise that I'll actually sleep...” Harry said but he allowed himself to be lifted from the settee. Blaise and Draco both thanked the healer, Draco taking the pain potion from him just in case Harry needed it later, and the three boys headed upstairs to Blaise's room.

\----------------x

The Order was in an uproar. Ron had never seen the place quite so busy and that was even including during the summer, when people had been in and out of the house almost constantly. Remus and Sirius had returned nearly an hour ago, without the other members of the Order, and without Harry.

Ron had instantly thought the worst must have happened. He had just been about to go and find Fred and George to borrow one of the extendable ears, when he was called down to the kitchen where the Order members were gathered around the table.

Ron sat there nervously, no one speaking while Molly went to get her other children from upstairs. The feeling of dread had grown in Ron, thinking of all the worst case scenarios of what could have possibly happened, and why he was suddenly allowed in on what was clearly another Order meeting. Though he noticed that Dumbledore wasn't present, so maybe this wasn't an official meeting, not that that comforted him any.

The twins and Ginny came into the kitchen, followed by Molly. Fred, George and Ginny all sat at the table, looking at each other, then to Ron as if he might have an answer as to why they were all in here.

“This is about Harry, isn't it?” Ron asked, his hands clenched into fists on his lap as he looked around. His eyes settled on Sirius and Remus, who were the only two in the kitchen who had gone to Malfoy Manor.

“Yes.” Remus spoke after a quick glance at Sirius. “He wasn't at Malfoy Manor. He managed to escape from the dungeons on his own, but was taken away by someone before we could reach him,” Remus explained.

“So,” Ginny spoke next, glancing at her brothers for a moment before asking her question, “he's not dead?”

“We don't believe so; all the evidence points to him still being alive, we just don't know where he is at the moment,” Remus explained.

“And you have no idea how to find him,” George said.

“There is someone who might have information about who took Harry. He's being taken into Ministry custody where he will be questioned, it just might be a little while longer before we can get Harry home,” Remus said and glanced at Sirius again, who still looked angry about this whole situation.

“So that's why Dumbledore isn't here?” Ginny asked.

“Yes, he went to the Ministry as there is quite a lot going on. We have quite a few Death Eaters in custody now-”

“You don't need to be telling them any of that,” Molly cut in quickly. Sirius rolled his eyes at the red-headed woman.

“Honestly, what does it matter if we tell them now or not? Voldemort's been killed, all we have to do now is round up the last of his Death Eaters,” Sirius said, grinning when he saw the stunned looks on the four faces sitting across the table from him.

Fred and George's eyes had widened, Ginny covered her mouth in surprise, while Ron's mouth hung open in shock at the news. “Voldemort's dead?” Ron asked.

“That hasn't been confirmed yet,” Arthur said.

Sirius rolled his eyes again. “We told you what we saw,”

“And there is no guarantee that that body belonged to Voldemort,” Molly snapped. “I would rather not get my hopes up until it has been confirmed that he is actually gone this time.”

“Sirius, don't start an argument you can't win. Molly is right, we both know what we saw, and all evidence points to that body being Voldemort, but I am with her on this; I want to know if he truly is gone this time before we start celebrating. In the meantime, let's focus on finding Harry and getting him back,” Remus said, sighing when Sirius didn't say anything else and just stood, leaving the kitchen.

“So... if you caught a bunch of Death Eaters, did you find Pettigrew too?” Ron asked.

Remus frowned, clearly having not even thought of the possibility of finding his old schoolmate at Malfoy Manor. “I didn't see him, but Sirius and I were a bit more focused on trying to locate Harry. If he was there, and didn't manage to get away again, then he is in the custody of the Ministry,” Remus explained, though was reluctant to get his hopes up about the possibility of Peter finally being caught.

\-------------x

Despite denying that he was tired, and his refusal to willingly go to sleep. Harry had only been lying in bed, curled up with both his boyfriends, for less than an hour before he had fallen asleep; still he clung to Draco, making noises of protest every time the blond boy attempted to get out of bed, or even shifted a little.

“This doesn't change anything, Draco,” Blaise said a short while after Harry had drifted off to sleep, looking over Harry, to the blond boy. “All three of us are going to have to talk about what happened,” the tan boy insisted and Draco sighed.

“I know you're still angry with me, Blaise. I'm still angry enough with myself for even letting it happen,” Draco explained. “I never intended for Harry to find that ring, it was supposed to stay hidden... and it was my mistake that I never actually got around to hiding it,” Draco admitted, looking down at Harry's relaxed sleeping face.

“I don't understand why you didn't destroy it,” Blaise said and Draco let out another sigh.

“It was the Malfoy family ring, it's something that has been in the Malfoy family line for generations; the ring itself is infused with magic and, even if I could have brought myself to destroy something like that, I wouldn't have had enough power to do so,” Draco explained. “I had intended on figuring out how to remove the portus spell from it, but I suppose that is something that can also fall under the category of 'I forgot',” Draco said, clearly disgusted with himself about the whole situation.

Blaise sighed, reaching out to put his hand under Draco's chin, lifting the blond boy's head. Blaise leaned over and pressed his lips against Draco's. Being mindful of Harry sleeping between them, Draco shifted closer, his own hand coming up to hold onto Blaise as he leaned into the kiss. Blaise pulled back, moving his hand to cup Draco's cheek and wipe away a tear from the pale cheek. 

“I hope that there will never be a next time, however, if there is, don't keep it a secret. All this could have been avoided if you had just talked to me sooner, and Harry was the one who suffered for it,” Blaise said and Draco nodded his understanding.

“No more secrets,” the blond boy agreed, smiling when Blaise gave him another quick kiss.

“I think we should follow Harry's example, and get a nap in as well,” Blaise said and settled down on the bed, his arm wrapped around Harry, his hand settling on Draco's hip as the blond boy also settled down, slowly drifting to sleep with Harry curled up close to his chest.

Blaise, however, despite his suggestion that they both take a nap, remained awake. He waited until Draco had also fallen asleep before he slid out of bed and left the room, heading to Harry's room. Going straight for the smaller boy's trunk, Blaise only had to dig around in it a little before he found the mirror he had been looking for.

“Sirius Black,” he said and watched the reflective surface of the mirror. He wasn't entirely sure how this thing was supposed to work, though in theory if Sirius had the other mirror close he would be able to hear him. “Black, if you can hear me you may want to answer,” Blaise said, and still there was no reply. “I'll just tell Harry you didn't want to talk to him then,” Blaise said, though made no move to put the mirror down, watching in amusement as Sirius' face appeared in the mirror.

“What the fuck do you want, Zabini?” Sirius growled.

“I'm giving you the same courtesy that your werewolf gave me, and since you people left us no way to get in touch with anyone...” Blaise said and Sirius growled again in annoyance.

“Just spit it out already!” Sirius snapped.

“I thought you might want to know that Harry's back with us. Draco's mother went to Malfoy Manor and got him out,” Blaise explained and had the satisfaction of seeing the look of shock on Sirius' face.

“Where is he? I'm coming over there!” Sirius said and Blaise assumed that the man was already heading toward the nearest fireplace to do just that.

“Harry is sleeping, I will have him contact you when he wakes up. For now, just accept that he is in good hands; he's been looked over by a very good Healer, he is physically fine,” Blaise said, talking to Sirius through the mirror was one thing, dealing with him in person was another. And if the man did come over, there was a high chance he wouldn't let Harry sleep, and Harry needed his sleep at the moment.

“And that's why you contacted me? To tell me that Harry's fine but I can't see him? He's my Godson!” Sirius snapped.

“Yes, and he is my bondmate,” Blaise said easily. “I'm not saying you can't come and see him, just not right now. Harry just fell asleep and he needs his rest. I will make sure that Harry contacts you when he's awake,” Blaise said and went to put the mirror down.

“Can I see him at the very least?” Sirius requested and Blaise thought about it for a moment before nodding.

“Alright, just don't shout or try to wake him up,” Blaise said, taking the mirror back to his room where Harry and Draco were fast asleep. Holding the mirror in the direction of the bed, Blaise heard Sirius sigh in relief.

“Make sure he contacts me when he wakes up,” Sirius said and when Blaise looked at the mirror again all he saw was his own reflection. Setting it on the bedside table, Blaise climbed back into bed, wrapping his arm around Harry and Draco again before finally letting himself fall asleep as well.

\-------------x

Harry was alive, he was safe, and even though he was with Blaise and Draco, Sirius was able to gain some comfort from seeing Harry. He continued staring at the mirror long after it had gone dark. And that's where Remus found him. Sirius showed no sign that he had even heard Remus coming into the room, though that wasn't anything new if you took into account how distracted Sirius had been the last two days.

Remus quietly came to sit next to Sirius, not saying a word to his friend; though he did give the mirror a questioning look.

Sirius remained staring at the mirror before letting out a long sigh. “He's alive,” Sirius said finally looking at Remus, the werewolf looking back at him curiously. “Harry really is alive...I saw him,” Sirius said.

“You saw him?” Remus asked his eyes widening slightly.

Sirius nodded and held up the mirror. “The Zabini kid just used Harry's mirror to contact me, said that Narcissa was the one who got Harry away from Malfoy Manor, that's who we saw taking Harry,” Sirius explained.

Remus also felt the relief of knowing that Harry was alive, and back safe with his bondmates, but this only brought one question to mind. “If you know where Harry is, why haven't you gone to get him back yet?” Remus asked.

Sirius sighed running a hand through his hair. “Believe me, I want nothing more than to storm over there and bring Harry back here where he belongs. But Harry was sleeping when Zabini contacted me, and even I know that Harry is going to need his rest after what he's been through the last couple days. And as soon as everyone knows that he's okay and where he is, they're going to want to question him about what happened,” Sirius pointed out, and Remus was rather impressed that his friend had managed to think things through rationally before rushing off to get Harry.

“We should still tell the others that Harry is okay, and that it was Mrs. Malfoy that took him out of the manor,” Remus said, moving to stand up.

“You sure that will be such a good idea?” Sirius asked, also standing.

“It will be one less thing for the order, and the Aurors to worry about,” Remus pointed out and Sirius reluctantly agreed with that, following Remus out of the room and heading to the kitchen; if there were any order members in the house at the moment, that was most likely where they would be.

However, when they entered the kitchen, there wasn't anyone around. Not even Molly, who had taken over the kitchen as her own area and could usually be found in there, when she wasn't on another cleaning escapade through the house. Sirius frowned at the lack of people and looked at Remus, wondering if the werewolf had any idea where they could have gone.

“Molly might have gone upstairs to finish cleaning, she is rather determined to make this house livable again,” Remus said, sounding rather amused. Sirius just rolled his eyes.

“I would prefer this place to fall into ruin,” Sirius said with a shake of his head.

“I'm going to see if I can catch up with anyone at the Ministry, I know that's where Dumbledore went anyway. I will let him know that Harry is safe,” Remus said, heading toward the fireplace and Sirius sighed.

“Fine, I'll go see if Molly is actually upstairs, if not I can at least tell Harry's friends.” Sirius watched Remus leave before he left the kitchen and went upstairs in search of the red-headed family.

It didn't take Sirius long to find them; he had made it up to the second landing and, after checking the bedrooms as he passed, he was half-way up to the third floor when he heard a loud crash. A grin slowly spreading across his face as he wondered what precious item had been broken this time. Once Sirius reached the top of the stairs, he could easily hear Molly scolding her children.

“I don't see why you insist on making more of a mess, as if we don't have enough to be cleaning up in this place as it is,” Molly said, sounding exasperated. “Honestly, I don't know what goes through your heads sometimes.”

Sirius followed Molly's voice down the hall until he came to the room that had once been a study. Glancing around the room he noticed one of the book shelves had been knocked over and just shook his head, he had silently been hoping it was something else.

“Finally decided to come and help us have you?” Molly asked, and Sirius blinked, looking over at the red-headed woman.

“If you wanted my help all you had to do was ask. Just point me at the closest flammable object,” Sirius said, pulling his wand out giving it a spin. This earned him identical grins from both Fred and George, and a small snicker from Ron that the younger boy tried to cover up with a cough.

“If you're not going to help, don't distract those of us who are working,” Molly said and turned back to her sons to start giving them orders again.

“Distracting you? No, distracting you would be telling you that I received news that we know where Harry is, and that he's safe,” Sirius said. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing, and all attention was once again on him.

“You found him?” Ron asked

“You know where he is?” Fred questioned.

“When is he coming home?” George inquired.

“Does Dumbledore and the rest of the order know?” Molly spoke next and Sirius held his hands up to stop any further questions.

“One at a time! Yes, we found Harry. He is with Zabini and Malfoy right now, recovering. I haven't talked to him directly yet, I don't know when he's coming home, and Remus just went to the Ministry to let Dumbledore know all of this,” Sirius informed them all and looked at each of them.

“Why is he with Malfoy and Zabini? Isn't it their fault that he was captured in the first place?” Ron asked, not sounding to happy about the fact that his friend wasn't going to be coming home yet.

“As much as I hate to admit it, Harry is better off with them at the moment. We don't know what he's been through, and as he is bonded to them, he's going to need them while he recovers,” Sirius said. “I'm not overly happy about it, but I'm willing to accept it because I know he's at least safe now,” he explained.

“I'm surprised that you didn't go rushing over there as soon as you found out where Harry was,” George said.

“I'm not saying it isn't a tempting thing to do, but give me a little credit here, I do have a little bit of patience,” Sirius said and knew that if James had still been around he would have been laughing his arse off at that statement. “If you have any more questions, or if you change your mind about just burning this place down, come find me,” Sirius said, turning to leave Molly and her boys to clean the room.

\------------x

Harry felt himself jerk awake suddenly, his eyes snapping open as he gasped for breath that didn't seem to be reaching his lungs at all. The shadows of the dream still clung to his mind, though he couldn't fully remember what he had dreamed, but that didn't matter right now, as Harry still couldn't seem to breath properly, there was a pressure on his chest, Harry scrambled to sit up trying to force his breathing to slow down as he looked around the room to confirm that he was no longer in the dungeon.

“Harry?” The sleepy voice of Draco reached his ears and Harry's head snapped in the direction of the blond boy, who was sitting up in the bed next to him.

“D...Draco?” Harry blinked trying to get his eyes to focus, his glasses were slipped onto his face and he could see Draco kneeling in front of him now. Harry reached out to touch Draco's face but paused, his hand hanging in the air between the two of them, seemingly afraid to touch Draco. A pale hand grabbed his and Harry jumped in surprise, still staring at Draco as though waiting to see if he was going to vanish now.

“You okay?” a voice from the other side of the bed asked, and had Harry looking over to see Blaise, the tan boy still lying down and looking up at Harry.

“...nightmare...” Harry admitted softly blinking when he realised that the near panic he had woken up in had vanished. He looked at Draco and smiled before wrapping his arms around the blond boy, holding onto him tightly. “This isn't a dream...” Harry said softly.

“No, this isn't a dream,” Draco replied, knowing that Harry was probably just trying to reassure himself, but could probably use the extra reassurance that Draco sent to him through the bond.

Blaise sat up and gently started rubbing Harry's back as the smaller boy held tighter onto Draco. “We got you home safe, Harry, and nothing like that is ever going to happen again,” Blaise said.

“I really am sorry, Harry, about the ring-” Draco started to say, but Harry pulled back enough so that he could press his hand over Draco's mouth and stopped the blond boy from speaking.

Green eyes shining with unshed tears Harry looked at Draco. “I know you're sorry, I believe that you didn't mean for it to happen...but...I'm not mad at you,” Harry admitted. “I know I probably should be... but I'm not...” Harry sighed before resting his head on Draco's shoulder, allowing the blond boy to shift them around so that Harry was now sitting sideways on his lap, while Draco rested against the headboard of the bed. Blaise moved so that he could sit next to the two of them, sitting so that he could pull Harry's legs into his own lap earning a small smile from the green-eyed boy.

“I think it's fine that you're not angry with him,” Blaise said softly. “I hardly spoke to him while you were gone, and Draco never once closed the bond with you,” Blaise informed Harry, who stared at him for a long moment.

“...how long was I there?” Harry asked when he realised that he had no idea how long he had actually been in that place.

“Two days,” Draco answered.

“It felt like longer,” Harry said softly. “They used a spell to trap me in a dream almost as soon as I got there.” Harry shuddered as he remembered the first dream, the feeling of helplessness, the lack of magic, and the feeling of his own life slipping away as he listened to the Dursleys being killed. “I had no idea how long that first dream had lasted...but I really lost track of time with the second one.”

“So you really just slept the whole two days?” Blaise asked and Harry shook his head.

“No... I was awake for a little. I know logically what was a dream and what wasn't, but everything felt so real. I felt myself dying, I saw my parents dying, I could feel the heat of the fire as they burned to death.” Harry shuddered and felt Draco's arms wrapping tighter around him, making sure to keep the bond wide open so he could reassure that Harry that this was all real and not just another dream.

Another moment passed as Harry reassured himself that Draco was here before he started speaking again. “I had to watch you die, Draco,” Harry said, taking a deep shuddering breath as he remembered the horrible sight of Draco, bloody and bruised, the sound of his neck snapping and the way that Bellatrix smiled in satisfaction as the body had fallen to the floor. “I saw Bellatrix snap your neck, your body was left propped against my cell door so I was able to see it...” Harry could feel the prickling of magic under his skin, even though it was nowhere near enough to be dangerous, Blaise still shifted slightly, his hands rubbing Harry's legs that were still resting on his lap.

Draco slid a finger under Harry's chin, making the smaller boy look up at him. “That wasn't me, Harry, I was never even there.”

“It was still you, Draco, they still killed you in front of me, and I couldn't do anything about it. Even if you weren't actually there, it was still real to me, Draco. All of it was real to me, and I never want to see that again, I never want to watch you die in front of me while I am helpless to stop it, I never want to see anyone I love die in front of me again!” Harry said, his voice raising in volume as he stared up at Draco, before looking over to Blaise as well. Green eyes were shining with tears again, but Harry still refused to let them fall; he had done enough crying for now.

“No one is going to die, Harry,” Blaise said, reaching up to run his fingers through Harry's hair soothingly, smiling when Harry leaned into the touch. “And you know that goes both ways don't you? Whether it is in front of us, or not, we never want to see you die either; the last two days were torture for all three of us, in different ways, but all the same, something like this will never happen again,” Blaise said firmly, his voice so full of confidence and, even though it was impossible to make such a promise, Harry couldn't help but believe him for now.

Leaning over, Harry pressed his lips to Blaise's, the fingers that were combing through his hair stopped, and Blaise pulled him more firmly against him while Draco moved to start kissing at Harry's neck. Making a small noise in the back of his throat, Harry shifted around as best he could, without breaking the kiss with Blaise, so he could straddle Draco's lap, giving both his bond-mates better access to the parts of his body that they wanted to touch.

And touch they did, hands roamed all over Harry's body, through his hair, down his sides, on his hips, up his shirt. Harry was forced to break the kiss as his shirt was removed, shivering as the cool air hit his skin, but Harry was drawn back into another kiss, this one with Draco, while Blaise took over where Draco had left off, kissing Harry's neck and moving his way down pulling a soft moan from Harry.

Harry had no thoughts of stopping them, no feeling of embarrassment as he soaked up the feeling of rightness, of belonging, of being safe, he was home. Blaise and Draco were now doing their best to prove to him that this wasn't a dream, and that even when he closed his eyes, they were still going to be there.

\------------x

Sirius looked at the clock in annoyance, four hours, Remus had left four hours ago and had not returned. Four and a half hours since the Zabini kid had used the mirror to contact him about Harry, and there was no word from his godson yet either; Sirius assumed that the boy was still sleeping and was willing to leave that alone for now as he paced around the kitchen. But there was no reason for Remus to be taking so long at the ministry, unless something had gone wrong; though, if something had gone wrong, it wasn't as if he could just floo right into the ministry and demand to know what was happening.

Sirius tried to remind himself that there was a lot going on, and Remus might have been forced to wait to speak to Dumbledore, and that's why it was taking his friend so long. Or Remus could have been pulled into a room for questioning, since he had been at the manor when all the Death Eaters had been rounded up.

Another thought came to mind that had Sirius pausing in his steps. If they had actually caught Peter, if that little rat had in fact been with the Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor… Sirius shook his head quickly to dispel the thought from his mind; there was plenty enough going on without him thinking about the possibilities of what that would mean for him. He was out of Azkaban, and that had been enough for him over the last two years, it would continue to be enough and he wouldn't dare to hope for more right now.

Looking over at the clock again, Sirius growled; four hours and ten minutes, and still no Remus. He continued his pacing around the kitchen, looking over at the fireplace every now and then in the hope of seeing green flames, but all he saw was the smoldering cinders.

Letting out another growl of annoyance, Sirius went over and sat down in one of the chairs at the table, his hands running through his hair as he called upon every ounce of patience that he had.

“Sirius?” The small familiar voice of Harry had Sirius jumping out of his seat and hurrying over to where he had put the mirror down earlier after he had almost dropped it.

“Harry?” Sirius questioned, as he picked up the mirror and looked at it, letting out a long sigh of relief when he saw his godson smiling back at him.

“Blaise said that you wanted me to contact you after I woke up,” Harry said and Sirius nodded.

“Yes, I wanted to hear for myself that you were okay. You had everyone worried you know,” Sirius said.

“I know... it's not like I had any control over it though. I didn't randomly decide to pop over and visit Voldemort...” Harry said with a small smile and Sirius let out a weak laugh and nodded.

“No one blames you, Harry,” Sirius assured him.

“No, they blame Draco and Blaise though, don't they?” Harry asked and didn't need a verbal answer as it was written all over Sirius' face. “It's not their fault either, you know,”

“No, they just had a portkey that took you straight to fucking Voldemort, of all people!” Sirius said, unable to hold back all of his anger.

“Did you ever think that Draco might have just had a portkey to take him home in case of emergencies?” Harry asked; even though they all knew that wasn't true, it still could have been a possibility. “Draco didn't even know that I had the portkey, it landed in my things by accident, and it could have happened any time. I could have been taken straight from Hogwarts and no one would have known,” Harry said.

Sirius sighed. “I still don't like it, Harry. I know you are bonded with them, I know that it's a signature bond and that there isn't anything that can be done about it, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it,” Sirius said.

“No one said you had to like it Sirius, I didn't like it all that much at first either... but... I...” Harry's cheeks seemed to get a pink tint to them as he blushed. “I love them...” he said softly, but Sirius heard him all the same. “And that's not just the bond talking, I care about them, and... and I believe that they care about me a lot too.”

Sirius sighed. “I don't have to like it, but I suppose I can accept it,” Sirius said, giving Harry a grin, and was rewarded with the brightest smile he had ever seen grace Harry's face. It reminded Sirius a lot of the smile that Harry had given him two years ago, when he had asked Harry to live with him. “Why don't you and your Slytherins come over here, and we can have a late dinner together? I want to see you in person, and I can't exactly leave Grimmauld place at the moment,” Sirius said.

Harry nodded. “Okay, we'll be over in....” Harry looked over his shoulder laughing at something, “…probably an hour,” Harry said and Sirius wanted to growl at that, he wanted Harry here now, but he forced himself to nod anyway.

“An hour it is then, that should give me enough time to figure out how to cook something edible,” Sirius said, earning a laugh from Harry. Waiting for the mirror to go blank again, Sirius set it down on the counter where he had put it before.

\--------------x

It wasn't quite an hour when the floo came to life, and Sirius looked over watching as Blaise came through first, then Draco and finally Harry who stumbled and would have fallen on the floor if Blaise hadn't caught him. Harry smiled, leaning up and gave Blaise a quick kiss.

It was taking all of Sirius' will power not to rush over and pull Harry into a tight hug. He stood there and waited for Harry to look at him and make the first move. What he had not been expecting was for Harry to pull away from both Blaise and Draco and suddenly run toward him. Sirius caught Harry in a tight hug, small arms wrapped tightly around him as Harry hugged him back just as tightly.

“You're early,” Sirius said softly, refusing to let Harry go just yet.

“We would have been a little bit earlier, but I had to figure out how I was going to get these two through the charm that is hiding this place,” Harry said.

“Oh right, I probably should have thought of that when I told you to come over here,” Sirius said pulling back just enough so that he could look Harry over, his hands still resting on his godson's shoulders. “Well, you made it anyway. Dinner isn't quiet finished since I am doing my best not to burn Molly's cooking,” Sirius admitted and Harry smiled.

“That would be a horrible crime, burning her cooking,” Harry said with a laugh, hugging his Godfather again and he could practically feel Sirius relaxing.

“Go sit down, it should be done in about five minutes or so,” Sirius said, reluctantly letting Harry go and sit, before turning his attention toward Blaise and Draco, who were still standing by the fireplace. “You two might as well sit down as well, or at the very least not stand there; I have no idea when people will start coming through the floo,” Sirius said, his voice not hostile, though he didn't sound overly welcoming either.

“This place is filthy,” Draco said as he looked around the kitchen.

Harry sighed. “I warned you that it wasn't all that great, but I think that most of the rooms on the first floor are more clean that whatever is upstairs,” Harry pointed out. “And you promised you would be nice,” Harry reminded.

“I am being nice, this place is horrid and unfit to live in,” Draco said, moving to sit next to Harry, but only after he performed several cleaning spells on the chair before he sat down. Blaise moved to sit down on the other side of Harry.

“Never thought I would live to see the day that I would agree with a Malfoy,” Sirius said, floating four plates over to the table before taking his own seat across the table from Harry. “I've been in favor of burning this place down for months, though some people are under the impression that all it needs is a good cleaning,” Sirius said and Harry smiled remembering his time spent here during the summer, and how Mrs. Weasley had put him to work as well as her own children, trying to get this place at least livable for people again.

The fireplace roared to life once more and all four of them looked over to watch Remus stumble out of the flames. Looking around, the werewolf's eyes were wide and he looked to be out of breath. “Sirius,” he started to say but paused when he saw Harry sitting at the table with Blaise and Draco.

Harry smiled and stood up going over to hug the werewolf, though Remus was rather tense as he hugged Harry back. “Harry, I'm so glad that you're safe, I didn't know you were going to be here, I thought you were still resting,” Remus said and glanced over at Sirius again.

“I wanted to see him, and it was either have him come here, or I would have gone over there,” Sirius explained and Remus nodded his understanding. “So what's happening? You've been gone for hours,” Sirius said and watched as Remus gently pushed Harry away from him, looking at the smaller boy before locking eyes with Sirius again.

“They caught him, Wormtail was at Malfoy Manor and Moody caught him, he was knocked out and taken straight to the Ministry so he wouldn't get the chance to sneak away,” Remus said.

All the color seemed to drain from Sirius' face, and if he hadn't already been sitting he probably would have fallen over. “They really have him?” Sirius asked in disbelief.

“That's why it was taking so long, they had to question a lot of people. They know that I've been in contact with you, and so after they were done questioning me they sent me here to give you this,” Remus said holding out an envelope to Sirius.

“What is it?” Harry asked, also looking at the envelope, and looking over to Sirius when his Godfather made no move to stand up and take it.

“It's a summons, they want to have a fair trial, it's scheduled for first thing in the morning,” Remus explained and Sirius narrowed his eyes.

“Why the fuck do I need a trial! They have the rat, I should be pardoned and-”

“And you broke out of Azkaban,” Remus reminded him. “It's the best that Dumbledore could manage to do, he is even going to testify on your behalf, and has arranged it so that I can be there and testify as well. Even Snape offered to be there and explain what happened two years ago,” Remus said, glancing at Harry when the smaller boy moved back to sit next to Blaise and Draco.

“I think the three of us should go,” Blaise said, both Sirius and Remus looked toward them. “If there is a chance that Professor Snape is going to show up here, I don't think it would be a good idea for him and Harry to be in the same room at the moment,” Blaise explained.

“You just got here though,” Sirius said moving to stand up, wanting to stop them from leaving. Harry shook his head looking at Blaise.

“I don't want to leave yet,” Harry said, Blaise and Draco frowned. “I don't want to see Snape either, but... I don't want to leave... I don't want you two to leave either though...” Harry admitted. “Can we please just stay the night? We can go back tomorrow, after Sirius' trial...” Harry asked. He could feel the annoyance through the bond coming from Draco, as well as the disgust at the thought of having to stay one night in this filthy house, but the blond boy nodded his head anyway.

“Fine, one night, but if I find something crawling in my bed tonight, I'm leaving,” Draco said and Harry threw his arms around the blond boy's neck.

\------------x

As it turned out, Snape didn't return to Grimmauld place at all that night, neither did Dumbledore. And Harry assumed that the two of them, as well as most of the other Order members, had a lot to do. Harry, Blaise and Draco had all been informed about what had been going on, while Harry confirmed that the burned body that had been found at Malfoy Manor, was in fact Voldemort.

Harry had been talking with Remus and Sirius, when Molly had come into the kitchen, intending on starting dinner. After that Harry felt like he was being passed around from one person to another, all of them hugging him, asking him questions until he felt like his head was spinning.

Blaise and Draco had finally stepped in and put a stop to it, while Molly scolded her own children for overwhelming Harry. “Now get the table cleaned off for dinner, and set out fresh plates,” Molly ordered before looking at Harry. “I am sorry, Harry dear, they are all a bit over excited to see you. Everyone was really worried,” Molly explained and Harry nodded his understanding.

“I know, Mrs. Weasley, it's still a bit much right now though... I think I might just head up to bed,” Harry admitted, giving her an apologetic look.

“You really should eat something first,” Molly insisted and Harry shook his head.

“I've already eaten, thank you,” Harry said and stood up; taking Blaise and Draco's hands, he started leading them out of the room, however, Sirius stopped them just outside the doorway.

“Harry and Ron were sharing a room last time he was here, I just want to show you three a room where all of you can stay together,” Sirius explained, though he was also using it as an excuse to spend a little extra time with Harry. The three boys allowed him to lead them upstairs, passing the room that Harry had stayed in during the second half of summer last year, going up to the third floor and opening a bedroom that he knew Molly had managed to clean out a few days ago.

Stepping inside Draco looked around. “I suppose this room is at least passable,” he said.

“So glad to hear that it passes the Malfoy inspection,” Sirius said as he rolled his eyes.

“Barely, but yes,” Draco said.

“At least the bed is clean, and seems sturdy enough to hold all three of us,” Blaise said as he sat on it bouncing a little causing the springs to squeak loudly. Draco grinned and Harry shook his head at the two of them before looking at Sirius.

“I'm so glad that you're safe, Harry, and even more happy that you're staying the night here,” Sirius said and Harry smiled.

“I couldn't leave, not knowing that tomorrow you could be a free man,” Harry said and watched as Sirius leaned heavily against the door frame. “Sirius?” Harry asked curiously.

“I'm fine, kiddo, it's just a bit much hearing it put like that. I still don't want to get my hopes up, but I don't think I can help it,” Sirius said with a grin and Harry smiled, moving forward and wrapping his arms around Sirius in a tight hug.

“Good night,” Sirius said, kissing the top of Harry's head before leaving the room, closing the door softly behind him. Harry looked at the closed door for a moment longer before turning to see both Blaise and Draco already laying on the bed, the spot between them empty and waiting for Harry. With a small grin, Harry made a running leap onto the bed, landing between his two bond-mates, who had shouted in surprise as Harry bounced on the bed laughing.

The mental scars of his captivity were going to take a little longer than a day to heal, they all knew that, but it was a relief to see Harry laughing so soon after returning home. Blaise would still feel better if they could convince Harry to at least speak to a mind healer, but that would be something to talk about later.

\-------------x

The next morning, Harry was pacing back and forth in the sitting room, being watched closely by both Blaise and Draco. Both of the other boys had tried to get him to stop and sit down, both trying to assure him that everything was going to be fine; however, Harry couldn't sit still, swinging back and forth between excitement and dread.

“Harry, for the last time, will you please sit down?” Draco requested. Harry turned to face the blond boy.

“I can't sit still,” Harry said, though that much was painfully obvious. The fireplace suddenly roared to life, and Harry turned abruptly to stare into the green flames, watching as Remus stepped out of the fire place. “What happened? Where's Sirius?” Harry asked when his Godfather didn't come through immediately after Remus.

“Harry, calm down,” Remus said smiling. “There were a few things that had to be taken care of, but Sirius will be coming through in about half an hour, unless he is cornered by the press.”

“So... so he's...” Harry swallowed hard when he felt his throat tighten.

“He's a free man,” Remus said, wrapping his arms around Harry when the boy practically fell against him.

Blaise and Draco quietly excused themselves from the sitting room, leaving Harry with Remus now that they knew that Sirius had been proven innocent. Harry deserved the time alone with Remus, and his Godfather, when the man finally returned.

There was still a lot of things that had to be dealt with, but things were working out for now, and with only the weekend left to Easter Break, and they would be returning to school on Monday to finish up their sixth year at Hogwarts, there would be time to worry about other things then.

End


	30. Epilogue

Unwanted Bonds  
Epilogue

Life moves on, as it always does. Sixth year was coming to an end, and Harry was happy to see the last of it. Though things had been rough for him this year, they were getting better. He still avoided Snape as much as he possibly could, even though he had finally gotten the courage to speak to the man, and even though Harry now understood what Snape had been doing, he found that he couldn't bring himself to trust the Potions Master again.

It was all for the best, Harry supposed. He was still having just the one on one classes with all his teachers, while Blaise continued to help him control his magic, and on every other weekend Blaise's mother came to see his progress. He was learning and improving, though the subconscious fear Harry had had of his own magic was still there, and probably would be there for a long while, thanks to the damage the Dursleys had done to him mentally. Still, by the time School was over, Harry had enough control over his magic that he was able to attend the feast.

He had spent the first half of the feast sitting at the Slytherin table with Blaise and Draco, before his friends had come to drag him over back to Gryffindor table; Blaise and Draco had followed reluctantly but they remained seated with him throughout dinner as their conversation continued.

“As I was saying, before Granger so rudely dragged you away from me,” Draco said narrowing his eyes across the table at Hermione.

“Oi, Malfoy, stop ogling my girlfriend,” Fred said, throwing a biscuit at the blond boy, who moved to the side allowing the biscuit to fly passed his head.

“Why in Merlin's name would I be ogling her, when I have a perfectly fine piece of arse sitting right here,” Draco said, wrapping his arm around Harry's waist, pulling the smaller boy onto his lap.

“Draco! I'm trying to eat!” Harry said smacking his blond boyfriend's head before slipping back into his own seat. “Now are you going to tell me what my surprise is, or continue staring at Hermione?” Harry asked.

Draco said nothing; he did, however, pull something out of his pocket and put it on the table next to Harry's plate, watching in amusement as Harry picked up the piece of paper and looked at it. “A flyer?” Harry asked, and he frowned, opening it up and reading it. “It's a ship?” He looked questioningly at Draco, who nodded.

“Yes, it's a cruise ship. I've booked us on a three-week cruise that leaves a week tomorrow,” Draco said. Wide green eyes turned to look at him and Harry opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't seem to think of anything to say. “Has my surprise made you speechless?” Draco asked.

Harry looked from Draco over toward Hermione, and then looked at Ron, who was staring at him as well. “It's okay, mate,” Ron said. “With everything that happened this school year, we weren't able to make plans for this summer anyway,” Ron said. He and Harry had been hanging out a lot more recently, their friendship was still a little rocky but it was doing better. The topic of taking a vacation had been brought up again nearly a week ago but Ron was right, with it being so close to summer already there hadn't been any time to really make any plans.

“Don't make it sound like Harry needs your permission to go on a cruise with us,” Blaise said, rolling his eyes at the red-head. Harry elbowed him in the side.

“I don't need Ron's permission but we had been trying to plan our summer vacation back in October, and we all know how that turned out. We were going to try and do something anyway,” Harry said, looking at Blaise then over to Draco. “I don't want to step on anyone's toes, or seem ungrateful, but I can't just dump my friends because you wave a shiny ticket at me,” Harry said.

Draco nodded his understanding. “I figured you would say something like that, and I knew that you were trying to make summer plans with this lot,” he waved his hand indicating Ron, Hermione and the twins. “That's why I booked tickets for them as well. They can use them if they want, or not use them, but the offer is there,” Draco said, looking over to see the shocked faces of Harry's friends staring back at him. “And don't go making the mistake of thinking this is some kind of hand out, or charity, I plan on each of you paying me back if you accept the tickets. If not with money, then with favors,” Draco said smirking.

Ron couldn't help it, he started laughing and shaking his head. “Bloody Slytherins, as long as it's nothing evil, or illegal, I'm in,” Ron said, probably surprising all of them more than Draco had. The others easily agreed and they spent the rest of dinner discussing plans, making arrangements for when they could go shopping to get things they would need for the cruise.

\------------------x

Harry had spent the final night of the year in Gryffindor tower, and between the end of year Gryffindor party and being far too excited to sleep, by the following morning Harry been exhausted by the time he had found the compartment with Blaise and Draco. He was so tired that they were barely even out of the Hogsmeade Station before he had fallen asleep.

Draco nudged him awake gently when they pulled into King’s Cross Station, gently kissing the half-sleeping boy, who had decided to use his lap as a pillow for most of the ride. “We're here, I think we should get off the train before your dogfather decides to start sniffing out every compartment looking for you,” Draco said and Harry smacked his head lightly.

“He's not my dogfather,” Harry huffed sleepily as he stood up. Draco just smirked at him as he too stood up.

“You know Draco only does that because it annoys your Godfather,” Blaise said.

“I know, it's like the two of them enjoy fighting or something.” Harry sighed, watching as Blaise pulled down their trunks. Harry grabbed his and left the train to search for Sirius. He didn't really have to look as he was swept up into a crushing hug almost as soon as he had stepped onto the platform. Laughing, Harry hugged Sirius back tightly.

“Ready to go home?” Sirius asked.

“That depends on where home is,” Draco said as he stepped off the train behind Harry. “Are you still living in that black hole of a house?” Draco questioned.

“You know that I'm not,” Sirius shook his head. “I have given both you and the Zabini kid the address and given you full access to the floo, and no restrictions on when you can come over,” Sirius said.

“Do excuse my boyfriend, Draco's just being over protective,” Blaise said.

“I think it's cute,” Harry said with a smile. Draco huffed and said nothing.

“Come on, kiddo, say your goodbyes, we've got to get home,” Sirius said, backing away to give Harry some space as the smaller boy turned to hug and kiss both Blaise and Draco.

“I'll see you two tomorrow, right?” Harry asked, both of them nodded.

“I will try not to be over to early,” Draco promised. “Though expect me to be there by at least eight,” he said, laughing at the look Harry gave him. “Alright, ten then, no one should be lying in bed after ten in the morning anyway,” Draco said.

“Alright, ten,” Harry agreed, giving him another kiss, turning to give Blaise one more. Harry then hurried off to where he spotted Hermione with the Weasleys; saying his quick goodbyes to his two friends, with promises to see them in a couple days, Harry went to join Sirius. 

Harry couldn’t help but grin happily as he held onto his Godfather tightly.Sirius flashed him a smile in return and the man twisted on the spot and apparated them home, to a proper home, where Harry had a room, and belongings that were all his own. And Harry thought that life really couldn't possibly get any better than this.

The End

I did it, I seriously did it!   
So I know there may stil be some unanswered questions, this being my first fic and all I am sure there are some plot holes that I've left. So if anyone has questions, I will answer them as best I can!   
ALso fell free to look me up on facebook under Celtic Kitsune!  
As of right now, I am working on getting all my other fics posted, so that this year I may not stress myself out to much when from not working on the fics I have posted since they will all be up.


End file.
